Just a short one this week…
Special Locations are locations or installations where there is an increased risk of receiving an electric shock. For this reason and according to BS7671 Part 7 Section 701 any location containing a bath or shower is deemed a ‘special location’. So that’s the whole of the bathroom!
701.32.2 to 4 breaks the areas surrounding the bathtub or shower into zones (Zone 0, 1 and 2) and the rest of 701 describes what you can and can’t do or have in each of the Zones. I’ll not go into it in detail here as I have before in previous posts.
Looking at good old Approved Document Part P of the building regulations…
In a bathroom only the areas directly surrounding the bathtub or shower are deemed to be ‘special locations’ (See Building Regulation 12-(9)). Which coincidently are the same dimensions as Zone 2 but now includes Zones 0 and 1 by default as they fall within these dimensions. So the rest of the bathroom according to Part P is not a special location.
Personally I think they have slipped up there as you are still at an increased risk of electric shock anywhere in the bathroom due to the presence of water and being stark b**&^%k naked. Especially since the introduction of sockets into the bathroom (3m outside Zone 1 701.512.3).
Regards
Paul