Approved Document ‘P' to the England & Wales Building Regulations firmly put the onus on the electrical contractor not to reduce the fire performance of the building he was working in as a result of the installation. The growing use of downlighters concerned the installers because they were aware they were making large holes in the ceiling linings and were not sure what measures were needed to satisfy their Part 'P' obligation. More than 22,000 electrical installers are registered with the NICEIC, the electrical equivalent of CORGI and their head office received numerous enquiries as to what was good practice in such cases. The NICEIC in turn passed these queries onto the Electrical Safety Council who decided definitive guidance was needed.

The Electrical Safety Council engaged the services of International Fire Consultants Ltd (IFC) to head up a Steering Committee and provided drafts which would provide a definitive Guidance Document on the subject. This committee had good representation including LABC, NHBC, ABE and all of the interested electrical trade bodies and because IFSA is the leading association in the use of intumescent technology for penetration sealing, IFSA was also invited to participate in the work.

IFSA's main task was to develop a method of ensuring that any cover that was used within the floor cavity to protect these downlighters was of a robust nature. IFSA Technical Committee agreed a procedure for undertaking this task which has formed an Annex to the Electrical Safety Council Guidance Document.

Whilst the Electrical Safety Council Guidance Document began by specifically looking at downlighters the Steering Committee soon recognised that holes in plasterboard affected more than just downlighters in ceilings and as many compartment walls are now made from stud and gypsum linings, and not brickwork/blockwork, as was traditionally the case, it was recognised that these are vulnerable to the fitting of switch sockets. The Electrical Safety Council expanded the scope of the draft to ensure that these items were included which will lead to a natural growth in the use of intumescent based products to provide protection systems for these electrical fitments. In addition, IFSA Technical Committee has advised the British Standard Committee FSH22/3 of the parameters that need to be introduced in a BS test for partial 'penetrations' which is an inevitable extension of this work.