How to handle more volts and amps than you can poke a proverbial stick at.

Electrical contractors must deal with fault currents, arc fault currents, over currents, nominal currents, over voltage, under voltage, nominal voltage, phase voltage and more.

All are different and all (plus more not listed here) are crucial in making sure that the installations you design and complete will “meet code”, as the Americans would say.

This is the section that describes how all the key distribution elements must come together to ensure that the installation is safe and only those parts of it that are affected are turned off when an abnormal situation arises.

As noted: Part 1, Section 1 deals with all the fundamentals and their underlying principles. Part 2, Sections 2-8 contains the comprehensive how-to that turns the statements in Part 1 into detailed complying instructions.

Part 2 is the ‘deemed to comply’ go-to part of the Standard. Follow it to the letter and you cannot go wrong. It is a guarantee to the user that if all the relevant clauses of Sections 2-8 are followed correctly, the works will comply.

Just as users of Part 1 of this Standard can comply without reference to Part 2 (well, theoretically at least), they can also do fully complying work using only Part 2.

So, what’s the major difference between using a Part 1 or Part 2 solution?

In a nutshell – the ease! Using only a Part 1 solution, users must demonstrate to the regulator or inspector, in great detail, how each and every part of the work complies, for every part of the entire installation.

On the other hand, when using only Part 2, all that is needed is to verify that it meets the Part 2 requirements already defined – then the certificate of compliance is signed.

So, do you pick the easy way or the difficult way? The choice is up to the user but there is much to be gained by using Part 2 solutions wherever possible.

So why is there no Section 1 in Part 2? Well, a decision was made when the Part 1 and Part 2 arrangement was introduced.

This allowed the layout and numbering of the preceding 2000 edition to remain. It also prevented any confusion due to having two elements named Section 1.