I had a chance last night to have a decent read through this document and it looks like there was a lot of thought and consultation put into it.
It also makes it plainly obvious, what the limits of work are to the Homeowner, with regard to getting the work certified and connected.
But, there are a few little points in this Code that I found a tad concerning:
In the Foreword was this statement;
To increase your skills in electrical work, there are training courses available at your local polytechnic, through your Community educational services or Marae.
As far as I'm aware, I've never heard of such training existing, apart from the usual Electrical tradeskills course, but these run for a whole year.
Also,
1.4 gives a list of tools needed for the installation work, at the top of the list is:
A cutter for stripping wire (eg. wire strippers or a pocket knife)
Personally I don't really like the idea of people using knives to strip cables and wires, sure I don't have a problem with Electricians doing it, they are more likely to know when they've damaged a wire by nicking it.
1.5.2 allows the use of Socket type RCD's.
When this whole RCD regulation thing was first released as part of the AS/NZS 3000 Wiring laws, we were told that the only type of RCD you were allowed to install in new installations was the Switchboard mounted type.
3.7.2 could lead to mis-interpretation over the burying of TPS cables without conduit.
One thing that I did find impressive with this Code is the quality of the diagrams, in particular, Figure 4, 2 Way lighting circuits, is drawn and labelled in a really simple and easy to read way.
Finally,
3.5.1 states this:
Do not run cables on purlins near roofing
While this may seem like common sense to you and I, there was an incident over here in 1995 that highlighted this.
In Rangiora, a 6-year old boy was fatally electrocuted when he touched the metal roofing iron while standing on a metal slide in the backyard.
Investigation found that a nail had pierced a 2-core lighting cable, between the P and N wires, but the Neutral insulation was still intact and there was insufficient current to blow the fuse on the circuit.
Hutch,
This is a NZ only Code and also Australia uses different codes for every state I believe.