How do you ensure your power engineering standards and codes are effective?

First, make them readable, understandable, and available. Use formats other than prose, such as logic, to make them easier to use and less confusing. Train your people. Emphasize the codes and standards will be followed, except those published by the engineer in responsible charge. All work should be checked, including compliance with codes and standards. Finally, rework, insurance claims, and law suits are all potential metrics to gauge their effectiveness. Codes and standards developed by a working group or committee should have a better chance of technical robustness. Assign people who have the patience, personality, and technical experience to write codes and standards. Do not assign the new college graduate, as happened to me.

To ensure the safety, reliability, and efficiency of power engineering projects, it is essential to have effective standards and codes in place. However, simply following standards and codes is not enough. It is also important to be proactive in ensuring that these standards and codes are effective and meet the specific needs of each project.

In most cases, you shall apply standards and codes that apply to your country. There are no options; otherwise, you will be in big trouble. If your country has no regulated standards, then yes, you have to review which one you need to apply for your projects. In most cases, wherever you purchase your equipment, you should use standards in those countries.

I believe that studying different standards and considering their different opinions (two of the most reliable and comprehensive institution are IEC and IEEE in power systems) would foolproof any possible negligence in the designing process, since, the ideas from two distinct communities and different aspects of the designing considerations have been exploited. Moreover, in some cases referring to institutions specialized in a specific field of studies is priority compared to other standards. For illustration, I personally review NFPA 850 safety code to locate the transformers and the size of oil pit, etc. to keep the possible damages caused by fire related incidents to minimum.

Actually it is worthy to be mention in addition to what mentioned above, the British standards BS such as BS 7671 are very useful. Circuits provided at nominal voltages up to and including 1000V AC or 1500V DC are covered by BS 7671. Across a range of frequencies, it also applies to Low Voltage (LV) and Extra Low Voltage (ELV) ranges. I believe Britsh standards are understandable as well as easy to be applied and adhered.

This is crucial since standards are usually modified based on firms experiences, lab experimentation, incident-related lessons learned, scientific studies, and the development of new technologies. Color codes, specifications, and other terms were also altered. Being updated is essential in the world of power engineering.

Apply them correctly! Easier said than done; this is where engineers make them money. Standards are usually equally divided in the level of difficulty. 1/3 of a standard is low difficulty 1/3 are medium-difficulty 1/3 are high-difficulty So if a topic you are dealing with falls into the high difficulty area, you must be highly skilled in knowing how to interpret and apply it.

I would recommend a third party audits and Inspections based on the applied standards. Inspectors then will raise their reports specifying the findings and recommended actions to fulfill the standards requirements.

There is someone behind the switch who needs to press it and the light is on! If you work with that framework in mind, you will find a new ingredient in the recipe to shape the perfect electrical service. All the work that is carried out in an electric company is carried out to be effective at that moment of truth with the client. This is why we must choose very carefully the materials, the equipment and the standards, the maintenance, the design so that when the client simply clicks the light turns on.