In this thread .....
My comments were in response to what had been said by an electrician, and apply primarily to electricians (although similar situations exist in many/most fields), not to layman. As far as I can see, we are unfortunately moving in the direction of them (electricians) becoming 'blind followers' of sets of instructions, regulations and guidelines, without necessarily having adequate understanding, and hence not necessarily having the ability to 'think' about what they are doing, or to make judgements/decisions based on understanding and experience.
For better or for worse, we are seeing increasing regulation in nearly all walks of life. Whilst there is scope for a lot of discussion about the necessity, value and wisdom of that, the reality is that we are stuck with it. However, in terms of electrical work, the regulations are certainly non-exhaustive and in many cases have a lack of clarity which leads to the need for 'interpretation', which is where a properly-trained electrician's knowledge and ability to 'think' comes (or should come) into play.
There are plenty of sources of guidance, both 'official' (OSG, GNs, Approved Docs) and unofficial (books etc., discussions with colleagues, even internet forums!) which are of value is helping a 'properly-trained electrician' to do their thinking, make their judgements/assessments and exercise experience-based discretion. However, the moment any of these 'guidances' come to be thought of as something which has to be 'complied with', they are effectively being treated as part of 'regulations' - hence moving one closer to the blind 'electrical work by numbers' approach which excludes thinking, and to a large extent removes the need for understanding and/or knowledge (other than of the word of the regs and 'guidelines'). That was really my main point.
Although very trivial, the cable clipping issue illustrates this fairly well. The regs merely require that cables be "supported by suitable means at appropriate intervals", leaving a knowledgeable and thinking person considerable scope for making an informed and experienced judgement. 'Guidance' in the OSG suggests a maximum clip spacing of 250mm for horizontal PVC-sheathed cables (≤0.9mm in diameter), and some feel or suggest that this should be regarded as something which should always be 'complied with' if one wishes to be sure of achieving compliance with the regs. However, as has been pointed out, a thinking person ought to understand that the guidance is far from exhaustive, and that 'horizontal' covers a multitude of situations, which will have different support requirements - e.g. clipped to a vertical surface (e.g. wall), on the top of a beam/joint/surface or on the bottom of a beam/joist/surface. One suspects that the OSG guidance probably relates to the first of those scenarios, but a thinking person would probably conclude that clip spacing could usually be greater than 250mm in the second case, and might well need to be less than 250mm in the third case. The blind follower of the OSG will presumably simply apply 250mm for anything horizontal.
Kind Regards, John
Yes, I understand that, but I was obviously talking about something rather different from that - a widespread phenomenon which extends across most fields and which applies primarily to those who are 'trained' in the professions or trades concerned.
My comments were in response to what had been said by an electrician, and apply primarily to electricians (although similar situations exist in many/most fields), not to layman. As far as I can see, we are unfortunately moving in the direction of them (electricians) becoming 'blind followers' of sets of instructions, regulations and guidelines, without necessarily having adequate understanding, and hence not necessarily having the ability to 'think' about what they are doing, or to make judgements/decisions based on understanding and experience.
For better or for worse, we are seeing increasing regulation in nearly all walks of life. Whilst there is scope for a lot of discussion about the necessity, value and wisdom of that, the reality is that we are stuck with it. However, in terms of electrical work, the regulations are certainly non-exhaustive and in many cases have a lack of clarity which leads to the need for 'interpretation', which is where a properly-trained electrician's knowledge and ability to 'think' comes (or should come) into play.
There are plenty of sources of guidance, both 'official' (OSG, GNs, Approved Docs) and unofficial (books etc., discussions with colleagues, even internet forums!) which are of value is helping a 'properly-trained electrician' to do their thinking, make their judgements/assessments and exercise experience-based discretion. However, the moment any of these 'guidances' come to be thought of as something which has to be 'complied with', they are effectively being treated as part of 'regulations' - hence moving one closer to the blind 'electrical work by numbers' approach which excludes thinking, and to a large extent removes the need for understanding and/or knowledge (other than of the word of the regs and 'guidelines'). That was really my main point.
Although very trivial, the cable clipping issue illustrates this fairly well. The regs merely require that cables be "supported by suitable means at appropriate intervals", leaving a knowledgeable and thinking person considerable scope for making an informed and experienced judgement. 'Guidance' in the OSG suggests a maximum clip spacing of 250mm for horizontal PVC-sheathed cables (≤0.9mm in diameter), and some feel or suggest that this should be regarded as something which should always be 'complied with' if one wishes to be sure of achieving compliance with the regs. However, as has been pointed out, a thinking person ought to understand that the guidance is far from exhaustive, and that 'horizontal' covers a multitude of situations, which will have different support requirements - e.g. clipped to a vertical surface (e.g. wall), on the top of a beam/joint/surface or on the bottom of a beam/joist/surface. One suspects that the OSG guidance probably relates to the first of those scenarios, but a thinking person would probably conclude that clip spacing could usually be greater than 250mm in the second case, and might well need to be less than 250mm in the third case. The blind follower of the OSG will presumably simply apply 250mm for anything horizontal.
Kind Regards, John
