Statute, regulation, guidance and standard
The 2391-52 expects you to know not just what the rules say, but what kind of rule each one is — because that determines what happens if you do not follow it.
| Type | Example | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 | Statutory. Breaking it is a criminal offence. |
| Statutory Instrument | Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 | Statutory, made under the Act. Breaking it is a criminal offence. |
| Approved Code of Practice | HSE ACoPs | Not law, but special legal status — depart from it and you must show you achieved the same or better. |
| Guidance | HSE Guidance Note GS38 | Not law. Evidence of good practice. |
| British Standard | BS 7671 | Not statutory in itself. Compliance is taken as evidence of meeting the statutory duty. |
The point candidates most often miss: BS 7671 is not law. It is a non-statutory standard. What makes it matter is that complying with it is generally accepted as demonstrating compliance with the Electricity at Work Regulations, which are law. Work to a different standard and the burden is on you to show your approach is at least as safe.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
The enabling Act that everything else sits under. It places general duties on:
- Employers — to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees, and to protect others affected by the work
- Employees — to take reasonable care of themselves and others, and to cooperate with their employer on safety matters
- The self-employed — to conduct their work so that they and others are not exposed to risk
“So far as is reasonably practicable” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It means weighing the risk against the cost, time and trouble of reducing it — not that anything achievable must be done regardless of proportion.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
The statutory instrument that applies directly to electrical work. It applies to all work activities, and imposes duties on employers, the self-employed and employees.
The regulations most often examined:
- Regulation 4(1) — electrical systems shall be constructed and maintained so as to prevent danger, so far as is reasonably practicable
- Regulation 4(2) — that maintenance duty is why periodic inspection and testing exists at all
- Regulation 4(3) — work activities near an electrical system shall be carried out so as not to give rise to danger
- Regulation 12 — suitable means of cutting off supply and isolating equipment
- Regulation 13 — precautions for work on equipment made dead
- Regulation 14 — live working only where it is unreasonable for the conductor to be dead, reasonable for the work to be done live, and suitable precautions are taken
- Regulation 16 — no person shall engage in work where technical knowledge or experience is needed to prevent danger, unless they have it or are supervised by someone who does
Regulation 16 is the legal basis for the word “competent”. Competence is not a certificate — it is knowledge, skill and experience appropriate to the work in front of you.
Duty holders
EWR 1989 places duties on employers, the self-employed, and employees. An employee’s duty is to cooperate with their employer so far as is necessary to let the employer comply, and to comply with the regulations themselves as far as matters within their control.
An “absolute” duty must be met regardless of cost. A duty qualified by “so far as is reasonably practicable” allows the balance described above. Knowing which regulations are absolute and which are qualified is a recurring exam theme.
Building Regulations Part P
Part P of the Building Regulations applies to electrical work in dwellings in England and Wales. Wales and England now have separate Building Regulations, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems entirely — a distinction worth keeping straight.
Part P requires that reasonable provision is made to protect people from fire and injury from electrical work in dwellings. Certain work is notifiable to the local authority building control, and there are three routes to satisfying that:
- Use an installer registered with a competent person scheme, who self-certifies the work
- Notify building control before the work starts
- Use a third-party certifier to inspect and certify the work
Notifiable work in England includes the installation of a new circuit, the replacement of a consumer unit, and any work in a special location such as a room containing a bath or shower. Adding a socket to an existing circuit outside a special location is generally not notifiable.
Where the documents fit together
- The Act creates the general duty.
- EWR 1989 applies that duty to electrical work.
- BS 7671 describes a way of meeting it for installations.
- IET Guidance Notes and HSE guidance explain how to apply BS 7671 and EWR in practice.
- Part P adds a building-control requirement on top, for dwellings.
None of them replaces the others, and none of them replaces the judgement of a competent person.
Common exam mistakes
- Saying BS 7671 is a legal requirement. It is not — it is the accepted means of complying with one.
- Confusing Regulation 4 (maintenance) with Regulation 14 (live working).
- Applying Part P across the whole UK, or to commercial premises.
- Treating “competent” as meaning “holds a qualification” rather than having the knowledge and experience for the specific work.
- Forgetting that employees, not just employers, carry duties under both the Act and EWR.