Electrical Safety - Test Certifications

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We will now understand what electrical safety test certifications are. Let us begin with the concept of Electrical Product Certification.

Electrical Product Certification

A product must pass the performance test, quality assurance test and meet the specifications for certification scheme. The certification scheme includes

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

• Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) program

• Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Program

• International Commission on the Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment Product Safety Certification Body Scheme

• Material Analytical Services Certified Green IEQ program

Worldwide Accreditation Bodies

All recognized bodies are listed for accreditation to the ISO 65 standard by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). The recognized bodies are −

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

• Accreditation Board (a sub-division of ANSI)

• American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA)

• International Accreditation Service (IAS)

• United Accreditation Foundation (UAF)

• Technischer Überwachungsverein (TÜV)- Germany

• Korean Accreditation Board (KAB)- Korea

Safe Electrical Work Certification

The regulatory system promotes safety satisfying the standards. The work should be controlled and enforced through the certification system. Therefore, certification is required for such work. The Energy Provision Act 2006 defines two different classes of electrical works – Controlled work and Restricted work. The scope of both the works has been established by the Commission for Energy Regulation.

Controlled Electrical Work

There are some electrical works, which need experienced people to work for safety reasons. Controlled work comes under the scope of the regulatory system at outset. A Registered Electrical Contractor must do the certified controlled works or an inspector from the Safety Supervisory Bodies may also do the work. The certificate describes the confirmation that the electrical work has been tested properly. Safety verification with national standards according to the national wiring rules is an important category of certification. The work must be significant enough in the context of electrical safety and needs to be controlled through the issuance of a completion certificate. The likelihood for like replacements of switches, sockets, lightning fitting to an existing circuit must be done as per the compliance with the Technical Rules. Such works define the Scope of Controlled Works. This involves installation, commissioning, inspection and testing work as defined in Part 7 of the National Wiring Rules ET101 and ET105. The inspection of the electrical installations must confirm the Regulation 89 of Sl. No. 732 of 2007.

Restricted Electrical work

The current scope of restricted works was decided in 2013. It involves the electrical installation in any locations listed in part 7 of National Rules for Electrical Installations. The inspection, testing or certification of existing Electrical Installations is described in Chapter 62 of the National Rules for Electrical Installation. This work is only applicable to domestic environments.

Testing of Equipment

In this section, we will learn about the testing of equipment undertaken by different recognized organizations −

CPRI

The Central Power Research Institute tests the electrical equipment such as transformer, reactor, switchgear, cable, duct, capacitor, arrestors relay, insulator and renewable energy products and thereby, generates a test report.

BSI

The BSI provides Certification Board (CB) report for the apparatus of IT equipment, control & wiring accessories, electronic component, medical equipment, cables, and environment.

ERDA

The Electrical Research and Development Association shows the excellence in testing, calibration, R & D with the support of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for different products such as cables, transformer oil, energy meter, switchgear, T & D lines, lamps & luminaries, dielectrics, polymers and photovoltaic cell.

ITC

The ITC Pvt Ltd. provides testing services for ingress protection, LED products, battery, PV module, cable gland and domestic appliances, etc.

NRTL

The Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory is a private organization under OSHA and ensures OSHA electrical safety standards. It authorizes the manufacturer to apply the registered certification for a particular product.

The testing service of any organization must follow several IEC standards such as −

Questions

1. Who can include any organization as accreditation body in worldwide?

a) IAF

b) ANSI

c) KAB

d) UAF

Ans: a

Explanation

All recognized bodies are listed for accreditation to the ISO 65 standard by International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

2. What is name of the laboratory recognized by OSHA?

a) CPRI

b) ERDA

c) NRTL

d) None of these

Ans: c

Explanation

Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory is a private organization under OSHA and ensures OSHA electrical safety standards.

3. What is the standard code of testing LED luminaries?

a) IEC 60065

b) IEC 60595

c) IEC 60601

d) IEC 60034

Ans: b

Explanation

Any organization must follow LED luminaries testing services according to the International Electro-technical Commission 60595 standards.