H—44a

Electrical Sectional Committee Parent Committee. —This committee examined 45 draft British standards, 6 draft Australian standards, and 1 draft South African standard. It also considered 40 British, standards which had been circulated for review and comment, and recommended that 19 be adopted. Sixteen amendments to British standards previously adopted were recommended for incorporation in the corresponding New Zealand standard specifications. Electrical Accessories and Appliances. —The preparation of a series of standard specifications relating to thermal storage electric water heaters was advanced a stage further by circulating for comment a draft standard specification for the immersion heaters used with this equipment. Draft revisions of the existing standard specifications for plugs and sockets of the flat pin type and for flush-mounted wall switches, wall plates and metal outlet boxes, were also circulated for comment. An original standard specification for domestic electric appliance connectors was recommended for adoption, as was a British standard which, subject to amendment, was found suitable for New Zealand conditions. Welding Sectional Committee Parent Committee. —This committee considered 11 draft British and 5 draft Australian standards. It also examined 9 British and 3 Australian standards which had been circulated for comment. Two of the British standards were recommended for adoption. Protective Filters.—The Optical Glass Committee considered 2 British standards which had been circulated for comment, and recommended that both should be adopted, in one case with minor amendments to meet local conditions, in lieu of the proposed original standard for protective filters for welding and other industrial operations. It was, however, considered that further attention should be given to the preparation of standard specifications for the protection of workers against the effects of infra-red radiation. Fire Fighting Equipment Sectional Committee Parent Committee—Kxismg out of the formulation of standard by-laws dealing with fire prevention and protection, the Fire Fighting Equipment Sectional Committee was instituted to direct and supervise the development of standard specifications for citation in the standard by-laws. The sectional committee has laid down a comprehensive programme of projects and has set up working committees to undertake the detailed work involved. Fire Extinguishers.—ln the course of an examination of British standards for types of first aid fire extinguishers not covered by existing New Zealand standard specifications, the Fire Extinguishers Committee concluded that specifications for some of these types should not be adopted until there was adequate provision for their inspection and maintenance. Consequently, the committee has concentrated upon a revision and extension of the existing emergency code of practice for the installation, maintenance, and operation of first aid fire extinguishers, with a view to including the revision in the regular series of standard specifications. Sprinkler Systems. —The parts of the standard code of building by-laws dealing with fire prevention provide for the installation of automatic sprinkler installations. To ensure that such systems will be reliable and efficient, the responsible committee recommended that the Rules of the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) for Automatic Sprinkler Installations, which have proved satisfactory, should be tentatively adopted as a steward specification. Fire Alarms.—The Fire Alarms Committee is giving attention to the preparation of a standard code of practice covering all types of fire alarm systems required for citation in the standard by-laws.

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