Posted 31 July 2009
The BCA - The British Cables Association and ECA are working to develop PAS 5308 (Publically Available Specification - 5308) to ensure that the technical information in BS5308 remains public viewing following the withdrawal of BS 5308 and its replacement by EN 50288-7.
PAS 5308 will retain the technical content of both parts of BS 5308: 1986, covering polyethylene insulated (part 1) and PVC insulated (part 2) instrumentation cables.
Like BS5308, PAS 5308 will be in two parts - PVC insulated cables and polyethylene insulated cables - and specifies the requirements for and dimensions of insulated instrumentation cables in pair constructions, with or without screens, and optionally incorporating single wire armour and, for polyethylene cables, a lead sheath option.
PAS 5308 is widely expected to include additional and revised content from the original BS 5308 standard to facilitate for voltage ratings above that specified in replacement standard EN 50288-7. The "standard" is due to be released in August 2009 and will be available from the British Standards Institute (BSI)
The demand for traditional BS 5308 cables is huge and will continue for many years to come. It's simply to labour intensive and expensive for large organizations to change or their existing drawings so we will continue stocking BS 5308 for some years to come. We are also introducing EN 50288-7 standard cables to meet the needs of new projects and I guess when PAS 5308 takes off we will be stocking those too!
