18th edition - any point?

[Percyprod]

With the 18th edition coming out, will this just mean more rules broken? Judging by the number of questions on this forum most electricians struggle with the 17th edition! I assume any installations wired under the 17th edition are now dangerous? Mmm better think about rewiring my stables. Only joking, you know me and the regs!

 

[Intoelectrics]

With the 18th edition coming out, will this just mean more rules broken? Judging by the number of questions on this forum most electricians struggle with the 17th edition! I assume any installations wired under the 17th edition are now dangerous? Mmm better think about rewiring my stables. Only joking, you know me and the regs!

The 18th edition like the 17th and the 16th before that and so forth is about improvements. Its about gathering data, implementing the latest technology and making improvements to the "best practice" of electrical installation, remedial and repair works. Why is that so bad? some of it will seem really silly as it may contradict what was accepted in previous editions. But the underlining aim of any regulation is to ensure best practice is taken to reduce/minimize risks and conserve functionality. This does not mean that installations carried out in accordance with previous editions are unsafe. It just means that (in theory) future installs will be safer still.

In a court of law the regs though not mandatory, would be taken as such. You would have to explain & prove to the court a very good reason why any work you did was acceptable if it did not follow the regs. In other words you would have to prove that work completed was better practice than that advised by the regs.

 

[Intoelectrics]

Duplicate post

 

[Percyprod]

Mmm I suppose the thousands who have been taken to court for carrying out wiring which doesn't comply with the regs would agree with you. I would think a qualified electrician who made a mistake would be more likely to appear in court than some one who totally ignored the regs and made a complete balls up of an installation.

 

[Intoelectrics]

Mmm I suppose the thousands who have been taken to court for carrying out wiring which doesn't comply with the regs would agree with you. I would think a qualified electrician who made a mistake would be more likely to appear in court than some one who totally ignored the regs and made a complete balls up of an installation.

I suppose that depends on how successful the authorities are at holding the responsible parties accountable. the guy who holds his hands up and says "yep it was me i'm sorry, my bad" is an easy target. the cowboy installer maybe not so easy to track down.
life is not fair, when things go wrong the natural progression is to find somebody to blame, we are all guilty of this at some point.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I blame the government.

 

[MDJ]

Mmm I suppose the thousands who have been taken to court for carrying out wiring which doesn't comply with the regs would agree with you. I would think a qualified electrician who made a mistake would be more likely to appear in court than some one who totally ignored the regs and made a complete balls up of an installation.

Name 20?

 

[Midwest]

Can list a couple that haven't complied with Building Regs, if I can be arsed. Think the problem lies with taking up a the case for a prosecution, or responsibility there of.

Perhaps they should come up with a fixed penalty scheme for failure to comply. If you get 12 points or more on your JIB card, you're suspended & have to go and take a retest.

 

[Percyprod]

My point was that I don't think any DIY spark has been taken to court, so of course I couldn't name ay

 

[Deleted member 26818]

My point was that I don't think any DIY spark has been taken to court, so of course I couldn't name ay

Sarcasm or irony?

 

[Percyprod]

Neither. Just stating a fact. No point having rules if they're not enforced. A professional electrician goes through all the hoops to work to them. If he makes a mistake he can be done for it, as he has registered the work. Some one doing the same unofficially gets away with it, as there is no record of it.

 

[Midwest]

Neither. Just stating a fact. No point having rules if they're not enforced. A professional electrician goes through all the hoops to work to them. If he makes a mistake he can be done for it, as he has registered the work. Some one doing the same unofficially gets away with it, as there is no record of it.

I'm not sure at the moment there's any difference from a DIY'er cocking up to qualified electrician?

 

[Percyprod]

Qualified sparks has signed a firm saying he carried out the work, diyer can day some one else did it, difficult to prove otherwise.

 

[StephenRowley]

Just because the regs aren't a law of sorts you can still be sent down for not following them.

 

[Octopus]

I think you may have taken the statement as it is currently law, what I was in fact meaning is that if those who want 7671 to be statutory then it will be law. I can see that wasn't clear in my post. If 7671 in it's entirety does become law then the above scenario will be highly likely.

Approximately 15 years after colour changes there is absolutely no need for these labels ...... so should not even be mentioned in bs 7671

 

[Midwest]

Qualified sparks has signed a firm saying he carried out the work, diyer can day some one else did it, difficult to prove otherwise.

Well probably; but if someone's keen enough to identifying themselves, by supplying a cert, they might just do a job that complies.