Introduction

WIS 4-32-16 Specification for butt fusion jointing machines was published in January 1998 having been prepared by WRc at the request of the Engineering and Operations Committee of Water UK.

The WIS was still being referenced in the fusion jointing standard WIS 4-32-08 Issue 3, 2002 Specification for the fusion jointing of polyethylene pressure pipeline systems using PE80 and PE100 materials and CESWI v7 (2011). However, WIS 4-32-08 Issue 4, 2016 [Ibid] specifies BS ISO 12176-1 for butt fusion machines.  In the Standards Board’s view this ISO standard may not be as robust as the WIS but is more up to date, the latest edition being published in 2017 and reconfirmed in 2023.  It will be due for its next revision/reconfirmation in 2028.

Since butt fusion machines – especially the large diameter ones – are worldwide products the Board’s opinion is that this BS ISO standard is the one that should be updated rather than the WIS. However, it is understood there are some concerns about the quality and accuracy of some products manufactured internationally to comply with ISO 12176-1. The Board also recognises that the reliability of butt fusion joints in the UK is due, at least in part, to the continuing contribution made by WIS 4-32-08.

Many of the main authors of WIS 4-32-16 have now retired, although at least some of the machine manufacturers involved may still exist. Unless current stakeholder representatives from the UK water & gas industries are prepared to form what the Board terms a ‘coalition of the willing’ and provide self-funded representatives on a Task & Finish Group to update WIS 4-32-16 it is unlikely that this will occur.

In July 2024 the Standards Board authorised the archiving (withdrawal) of WIS 4-32-16 pending any evidence of the emergence of such a coalition.