The compliance of building wiring cable from a number of suppliers is currently under investigation by WorkSafe’s Energy Safety.
Our preliminary investigation has identified that some cable in the New Zealand market has inadequate certification, or appears not to have been manufactured in accordance with the certification requirements.
Building wiring cable is a critical part of an electrical installation and once installed is concealed. This means a fault or failure is not likely to be detected until an incident occurs.
For this reason building wiring cable is gazetted a medium risk declared article in New Zealand. This means that suppliers of building wiring cable must have a valid supplier declaration of conformity (SDoC) for the product before offering it for sale or supply.
The person making the declaration must be able to produce a valid test report based on the relevant standard for the declaration if requested by WorkSafe.
What are the relevant standards?
The relevant standard for building wiring cable is either:
- AS/NZS 5000.1:2005 Electric cables - Polymeric insulated - For working voltages up to and including 0.6/1 (1.2) kV (including Amendment 1), or
- AS/NZS 5000.2 Electric cables - Polymeric insulated - For working voltages up to and including 450/750 V.
How do we know if the cable is compliant?
Cable markings provide a readily accessible indicator of whether the cable is likely to be compliant.
Compliant cable must be durably and legibly marked with the following information on the outermost surface at intervals of no more than 550 mm along its length:
- A registered name or registered mark which enables the manufacturer or supplier of the cable to be identified,
- Year of manufacture,
- Designation of insulation, e.g. V-90, and
- ‘ELECTRIC CABLE’ followed by voltage rating, e.g. 450/750 V for cable constructed to AS/NZS 5000.2.
The cable packaging (or drum) must also be marked, tagged, or labelled with the following:
- A registered name or registered mark which enables the manufacturer or supplier of the cable to be identified,
- Voltage rating, e.g. 450/750 V,
- The number of cores and size of the conductor(s),
- Designation of insulation (e.g. V-90) and oversheath (e.g. 3V-90),
- The catalogue number or type number or name or other marking to distinguish the cable,
- Length of cable, and
- the relevant standard – either AS/NZS 5000.1 or AS/NZS 5000.2.
The cable or its packaging may also carry other markings such as a certification number.
If any cable or its packaging is not marked with all of this information, it is not compliant with a relevant standard and must not be sold, supplied or installed.
The larger concern is that cable which is incorrectly labelled may have other significant safety deficiencies that make it unsuitable for use as building wiring.
Therefore any deficiencies in the markings, or the SDoC, should be treated as evidence the cable itself is non-compliant and therefore not suitable for sale, supply or use in New Zealand.
What should you do if you spot non-compliant cable?
Energy Safety advises anyone who has been supplied with building wiring cable which is incorrectly labelled not to use it and to return it to their supplier.
We also ask that you contact WorkSafe’s Energy Safety team with the information so that we can arrange any necessary examination or testing to determine if further action needs to be taken. This information should include the name of the seller or supplier, place and date of sale, and a photo or other record of the markings on the cable and the packaging.
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