Grounded in Safety
Join Nick Marshall, Managing Director of Omega Red Group, as he's joined by a range of experts to chat all things lightning protection, height safety, earthing and surge protection.
Expect bold conversations, fresh insights, and real-world stories shaping the future of safe, compliant operations. Whether you're in the compliance industry or just curious, this is one you won’t want to miss.
Grounded in Safety
Surge Smart | The science behind SPDs | Part 2
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In this episode, Nick Marshall is joined by Matt Waldram and Adam Davies to discuss the key standards that underpin surge protection and how they work together to manage electrical and lightning-related risks.
Topics covered include:
- BS 7671 and BS EN IEC 62305
- Risk assessment and compliance
- Specifying surge protection devices (SPDs)
- The importance of early project engagement
- Key takeaways for designers and contractors
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Why Standards Matter On Site
Nick MarshallThere' s different standards that we're working to. So could you just explain some of the different standards then that you'd be looking at to try and educate the customer? Because they must come together in some way, but sometimes it's probably joining the dots in those two areas. So how would how would that look when you're when you're on a
What British Standards influence Surge Protection?
Nick Marshallclient's site?
Matt WaldramOkay. So there are many, many standards that are produced by the British Standards Institution, many of which are adopted from international standards. They cover all aspects of electrical systems and the earthing world in which we work and height safety too.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramBut the ones that are particularly relevant are uh BS7671, which is also known as the IET Wiring Regulations.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramCurrently the 18th edition, and I believe we've just had the Fourth Amendment released. And that's the UK standard for everything to do with electrical installations. So if you're going to put an electrical installation into a building, the way to do it safely is to meet the requirements of BS 7671. BS EN IEC 62305 is our main core standard when we're talking about protecting against the effects of lightning. And that's the standard that's used to design, install, and maintain a whole lightning protection system that includes obviously the surge protection element. 7671 has a section within it, which also refers to the damage that uh lightning can do, but it is only concerned with the impact of that on its wiring systems.
Nick MarshallOkay.
Matt WaldramWhereas 62305 as a document considers all of the effects of lightning, including those effects on wiring systems. And it's concerned with all of the losses that can occur as a result of lightning activity.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Is there conflict between BS 7671 and BS EN IEC 62305?
Nick MarshallAnd do you because when we're talking to customers, sometimes like they get their heads around the standards and about sometimes where they map across or where they don't, do you ever get where people feel that they're in conflict with each other and again we have to educate customers? Just walk me through those conversations. Because I'm guessing that must occur on a regular basis.
Matt WaldramYes, certainly when we're talking to someone who is more electrically biased, or indeed for electrical systems, maybe they're an electrical designer.
Nick MarshallUh-huh.
Matt WaldramThey may well have never had sight of the document that we mainly work to for lightning protection, which is again BS E N I EC 62305. Um, but the reason I think that the documents, people might think the documents conflict is because they really are written from a different risk perspective. Um and they're usually implemented by those different industries. Um and it's great when you talk to a client who has knowledge of both documents because both are equally important, and actually both say pretty much the same thing when it comes to the damage that surges can do.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramIt's just maybe where they impact, and that's where perhaps things are slightly different. Um and people's knowledge as we talk to them hopefully grows.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramAnd that's the point of
How do BS 7671 and BS EN IEC 62305 work together?
Matt Waldramdoing these podcasts.
Nick MarshallAbsolutely. So that kind of takes me nicely to yourself then, Adam in that I suppose we're the facilitator of all those conversations of how those standards blend together. So um how do they work together when you when you're articulating it to a customer so that they're something going, the penny drops and uh and I now get how those two do join at the seam.
Adam DaviesYeah, so like Matt already mentioned BS 7671, it's your fixed wiring regulations, uh electrical contractors or uh electrical people working on whatever electrical systems they may have in the buildings.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Adam DaviesUh it's all going to be to 7671 for the wiring regulations. Uh, but then you've got to which which is good because 7671 actually refers you to 62305.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Adam DaviesUh and for anything where there's uh potential for lightning risk. Uh so they do complement each other quite well.
Nick MarshallYeah. It's just I think uh a lack of uh probably an appreciation of the risk levels of what you're accounting for. So that word comes out quite often, doesn't it? It's about that risk level, that risk profile and I think do you see, and we've we've talked about on previous podcasts, actually. I we talked, I think podcast three when we had Dave Willets on, we were talking about Power Earthing projects, and we we got into quite a deep conversation about sometimes about when we're brought into the the conversation, sometimes it's at the end rather than at the
How do BS 7671 and BS EN IEC 62305 work together?
Nick Marshallstart. Do you see that's part of your conversations when you're coming in to to look for these solutions that you're having to take people back a little bit to some fundamentally as if maybe we've we've not joined those dots together? Is that is that your will too?
Adam DaviesYeah, absolutely. Uh we get it quite a lot where you know we do have limitations in the sense of you know with an electrical system or electrical installation has to be at a point where we can sort of come in and and gauge and make sure that the correct types and the correct SPDs are in the correct places to manage those risks. Uh but it is uh very much uh an issue, I think, in the industry is that lack of early engagement with specialists when it comes to lightning and surge
SPDs - What do electrical designers need to consider?
Adam Daviesprotection.
Nick MarshallYeah. And then if that then we talk about the the designer and about how that works in in practice, what what dialogue do you have with designers? Is is it much of dialogue or is it kind of that after the event and what's ever been designed, we work into that that program that's been that's been designed?
Adam DaviesYeah, so uh we do we we do try to get early engagement with designers,.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Adam DaviesUh, and that is just to tackle a lot of the issues that come about after the fact.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Adam DaviesUh but uh yeah, I'd I'd say we we do have a lot more of coming in after the electrical installation has been designed and been installed.
Nick MarshallUh-huh.
Adam DaviesUh and really we we want to be more involved at that early stages to to guide and and help those designers who may not be familiar with B S E N I EC 62305.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramElectrical designers seem to concentrate mostly on the bit they are responsible for.
Nick MarshallSo we're just looking through that lens.
Matt WaldramAnd they're not maybe considering the wider thing. And and for me, um, what they don't always perhaps fully appreciate is the effect that uh requirements of other standards might have, uh, or indeed how they can uh impact on other wiring systems that they might not be responsible for. Um and therefore that it would be good if they had a wider uh a wider understanding um of what might be required so that they can ask the right questions.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramAnd then they're not surprised perhaps when we ask the right questions or when we ask them questions and they don't wonder why we want to know the information.
Nick MarshallOkay. Yeah, and I think again, when we talked on some of the previous podcasts, we talked about that important word of collaboration and making sure stakeholder management's in play to make sure that a project runs really effectively. And I think things that you've just called out in some of those discussions there is is ticking those boxes once again.
Key takeaways- what do you need to know about BS 7671 and BS EN 62305?
Nick MarshallSo if we to think about then uh kind of a key takeaway from that discussion, then when we talk about the the those two different standards, what what what should our listeners and and people watching this podcast be thinking about?
Matt WaldramOkay, so for me the key takeaway is that um surge protection is an important part of BS 7671, and it's an important part of BS EN IEC 62305.
Nick MarshallYeah.
Matt WaldramAnd both of those are very important documents, both need to be considered. Um, even if the risks that each consider um are different from each other, the outcome is that you will possibly install a device that will do and satisfy both both of those documents.