BEAMA’s Low Voltage Switchboard Technical Committee has published two new guides - the much anticipated new Guide to Forms of Separation and the updated  Guide to Verification relating to BS EN 61439-2.

Since 1992, ‘The BEAMA Installation Guide to Forms of Separation’ has been accepted as the industry standard, providing a clearer understanding of the constructional requirement, and various ways of meeting the necessary standard internal separation.

BEAMA spokesperson Keith Smith explains the history behind this guide:
"It started with British Standard BS 5486 Part 1: 1990, later amended in 1994 in line with European standards to BS EN 60439-1. A BEAMAInstallation initiative led to a National Annex being added to the standard during March 1995 – and it’s still there today in the BS EN 61439-2 Standard.

“This is a significant industry publication - forms of internal separation in BS EN 61439-2 are subject to agreement between the manufacturer and the user – and we recommend this guide as an appropriate basis for such an agreement.

“The guide’s sixth edition has been produced to be in line with BS EN 61439-2 and remains essential reading for specifiers and users. Its aim is to assist in selecting the most appropriate form of separation for a given application.

“Additionally, the ‘Guide to Verification to 61439-2’ has been updated (Table 1) and re-formatted to make it more user-friendly for on-screen reading.”

Download the guides here