How on earth are we to keep afloat when we have to spend a fortune on books.....

[CVA]

Here we go again once again we can be found having to prepare for an inspection visit by the governing body and as usual we are issued with a list of books that are required on our shelves and these seem to change almost weekly....... It appears that as we have fitted one fire alarm system and an emergency lighting system for a client we are now expected to have the following on our shelves BS 5266 - Emergency Lighting - Part 1 BS 5839-1 Fire Detection and Fire Alarms systems for buildings BS5839-6 Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems for Buildings. Not to mention the other load of books that we need to have that we do look at on a regular basis which are worth the money Now I do understand that these are important documents and we should have these but when you only do one or two a year why do we have to spend over £ 280 on books that we hardly ever look at. I have spoken to my local library and they have said that as they change to frequently they will not have a current copy and that we will have to get our own. Surely these should be available for download a lot cheaper than this. It seems that as soon as we buy one we have to get the newer version in six months time. Does anyone know where we can get these at a sensible price as I am sure that next month I will be asking for the next updated version of the same damn thing..... CAN ANYONE HELP ME FIND THESE A BIT CHEAPER PLEASE !!!!!!!!!

 

[Darkwood]

I understand your gripe but considering these systems have strict regulation and are designed to limit the risk of injury or loss of life in a fire or power cut... i struggle to see how you could have confidently designed a F/A system and know it complies if you never had the standards to refer to?

Yes its a boat load of money but this is where you make a business decision on whether you are going to install F/A systems etc and benefit from a wider customer market or keep costs low as well as the limiting the work you can carry out. The BS regs don't change weekly you may expect an amendment every 2-4 years and an overall every 10+ years

You can join some sites that give you acces to these standards at a large discount sometimes 50% off others may offer the best sites to join but can't recall of top of my head .... yes can understand the libraries having issues stocking them because they make a long term investment that pays back over many years where a book been amended every few yrs is a lost cause for them.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Changing every 6 months is somewhat an exaggeration!
Search Results <--- BSI link

Like DW says, if you're operating in a technical field, you have to adhere to the current standards. Tough!!!

 

[Octopus]

Buying replacement techincal books is part of the business we are in. Just accept this, buy them and move on.

 

[shanky887614]

Join the iet, they give a discount on books and if i remember right they have an online library

 

[CVA]

Thanks for the advice lads and at least I have now found over the weekend that we have most of the books they require as it appears that one of our Apprentices had them as reference for his exams and its now only two that we don't have so that lessons the blow a little bit. I will have to get out and search out the best possible deals I can on the ones I need. I guess I was just having a bad day when I started the thread as I had just had the book list the day after having to fork out on a new van and my wallet was a bit light HA HA HA. Thanks again

 

[Cbigfoot]

during my annual unspection i was informed that the BSI apparently have a scheme where you pay a fixed amount per year and are able to access all their books online, or maybe subscribe to the ones you need.

I do not remember exactly what it was but he reccomended it to save buying the books all the time as they update automatically.