2.4.5  - Maintainability

When designing and installing an electrical system it is important to assess how often maintenance will be carried out and how effective it will be. For example, a factory with a staff of fully trained and expertly managed electricians who carry out a system of planned maintenance may well be responsible for a different type of installation from that in a small motor-car repair works which does not employ a specialist electrician and would not consider calling one except in an emergency.

In the former case there may be no need to store spare cartridge fuses at each distribution board. The absence of such spares in the latter case may well lead to the dangerous misuse of the protective system as untrained personnel try to keep their electrical system working.

The electrical installation must be installed so that it can be easily and safely maintained, is always accessible for additional installation work, maintenance and operation and so that the built-in protective devices will always provide the expected degree of safety. Access to lighting systems is a common problem, and unless the luminaires can be reached from a stable and level surface, or from steps of a reasonable height, consideration should be given to the provision of hoisting equipment to enable the lighting system to be lowered, or the electrician raised safely to the luminaires.