FAO DIYers

[Andy78]

Press Releases News : Electrical Safety Council


An article from the Electrical safety council about the dangers of overconfidence and lack of knowledge when it comes to electrical work in the home.

Electricians say they are spending an increasing amount of time repairing such blunders and are concerned that ‘Dive-in DIYers’ are endangering themselves and their families. This is a serious concern – someone dies as a result of an electrical accident in their home every week in the UK, and electricity is the cause of 350,000 serious injuries each year, as well as half of all house fires.


And FAO forum members

The overconfidence partly comes from relying on the advice of unqualified friends or family (half of those surveyed said they do this) or seeking help online where the advice might not be appropriate – two fifths of people say they use Google to get tips and the same number use online video tutorials, such as on YouTube.

 

[jimmymac]

I'll never understand why an electrician would advise a DIYer on how to install/repair anything electrical. When all's said and done, it's our livelihood. We're doing ourselves or somebody like us out of precious work.

 

[tazz]

This brings up a lot of concerns, especially on a site such as this....helping a diyer out could actually turn into serious case of who told who to do what...and are they now liable for this advice....

 

[Andy78]

This brings up a lot of concerns, especially on a site such as this....helping a diyer out could actually turn into serious case of who told who to do what...and are they now liable for this advice....

Exactly. We really need to check what level of competence new posters have before diving into the advice dispensing. It's given far too freely most days.

 

[jimmymac]

I wouldn't necessarily say you are liable if the ding bat DIYer does something wrong, you cant possibly know there level of skill or how they'd interpret your answers or advice. I do agree that we have to be careful how we reply to these requests

 

[tazz]

Needs some serious consideration....laws change very quickly...if one case is won against someone giving advice on a forum...then this would lead to many others. And dont get me wrong, I usually the first to offer help...!!!

 

[Octopus]

Needs some serious consideration....laws change very quickly...if one case is won against someone giving advice on a forum...then this would lead to many others. And dont get me wrong, I usually the first to offer help...!!!

I always look back at earlier posts to gauge competence before offering much on a plate.

 

[Tiny Spark]

Can I make a suggestion in this case? And ime not sure whether everyone would agree or not and whether or not admin would be prepared to do this but:

Why not make the forum private?
By that I mean nobody can access the pages without going through some kind of vetting scheme but the forum is still findable to new coming sparks?

However I am kind of on the flip side of this in as much as better us than someone who knows nothing.
Lets face it A DIY-er is going to have a go at it himself (or at least try) regardless of where he gets his info from, If they dont get decent info from us they will get it from Tommy wet pants down the road or old Nick who used to repair TV's in the 70's.

I think its a sign of the times tbh.
Nobody has respect for sparks anymore, Hell I saw a job for a admin girl recently requireing no experience for a Salary £3000 more than me!
Its easy, At least thats what everyone thinks and then you have the whole times are hard thing.

The way I see it we need to act like parents to teenage kids, Leave em to it and be there to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong!
Dont get me wrong it would be good if you could just slap em and say NO! but they never listen do they?

Thats my opinion anyways.

 

[chris murphy]

Press Releases News : Electrical Safety Council


An article from the Electrical safety council about the dangers of overconfidence and lack of knowledge when it comes to electrical work in the home.

Electricians say they are spending an increasing amount of time repairing such blunders and are concerned that ‘Dive-in DIYers’ are endangering themselves and their families. This is a serious concern – someone dies as a result of an electrical accident in their home every week in the UK, and electricity is the cause of 350,000 serious injuries each year, as well as half of all house fires.


And FAO forum members

The overconfidence partly comes from relying on the advice of unqualified friends or family (half of those surveyed said they do this) or seeking help online where the advice might not be appropriate – two fifths of people say they use Google to get tips and the same number use online video tutorials, such as on YouTube.

"Hello Andy78",


I don`t want to annoy the Members who do NOT think that there should be a Mandatory Electrical Registration Scheme - along the lines of Gas Safe.


But I was under the impression that a Mandatory Registration Scheme was not considered necessary because of the belief that `not enough People Die because of Electrical Accidents / Dangerous Electrical Installations`.

On the basis that the MOST Important Safety Issue on Gas Installations is the prevention of the production of Carbon Monoxide / CO causing Deaths - and that this as well as the Risk of Explosion causing Death and Property Damage were the Primary Safety Issues which made the Government / HSE implement the Mandatory Register for Gas Engineers / Installers - I can assure Members that there are NOT `a Death per Week from Carbon Monoxide or Gas Explosions` in the UK !

And nothing like 350,000 serious injuries per Year from Gas Installations !


As these figures obviously come from a reputable Electrical Safety body [`THE Electrical Safety Body` ?] I cannot understand why a Mandatory Electrical Registration Scheme for ALL Electricians has not been brought in - ?

Obviously I imagine that if this were brought in it would be very similar to the Mandatory Gas Safe Registration - with Electricians having to take Initial ACS Assessments on various aspects of their Trade / Work activities at some point - irrespective of their Qualifications - and then Re-Assessments every 5 Years to remain Registered.

There would also be a Yearly Registration Fee / Certificate & I.D. Card.


The Gas ACS `Exams` [Theory and Practical] cost Me approximately £850.00 for the Domestic Reassessments that I maintain - plus usually about 3 to 4 Days at the College depending on the amount of people taking the Assessments / Re-assessments because of possibly waiting for the available Gas Appliances to work on / be Assessed on.


I have stopped taking the Non Domestic / Industrial & Commercial Assessments and Reassessments partly because of the expense / time involved - but mainly because I no longer carry out Gas Works in those classifications / environments .


I imagine that there would be quite a lot of opposition to the 5 Yearly Assessments / Re-assessments as there was in the Heating, Plumbing & Gas Trades.


Although our Qualifications obviously `allowed` Us to Register with what was then CORGI on the Mandatory Register [1994 ?] - they did NOT exempt Us from having to take the Assessments when they were later brought in - which were initially ACOPS Assessments at that time [1997 ?] - and then have to take Re-assessments every 5 Years until You no longer want to work on Gas.

Regards,


Chris

 

[kingeri]

At the end of the day it should be made illegal to do any kind of DIY electrical work. Even changing a socket can be a recipe for disaster if done incorrectly or poorly. I still find it amazing how many times I see terrible DIY lash-ups, not just in houses but in workplaces too. I had my car valeted yesterday and the guy plugged his vac into a tatty old extension lead that was actually T&E terminated into a plugtop. This was plugged into a standard socket outlet which was mounted basically outdoor, and fed by 1mm T&E. God know where the feed came from but looked like it was fed from a sign light.

 

[LeckyBill]

youll never stop the diyers

 

[Des 56]

youll never stop the diyers

I agree completely and whats more,I see little reason to do so
People have been always been "having a go" and it won't change

I have always been against trying to regulate Domestic installation
It was always going to be a waste of time

If there is concern for upping the installation standards,it can only be done by having genuine Eicrs carried out by genuine competent sparks for such things as house sale and rentals etc


Chris Murphy mentioned the incidents reported by the electrical safety council and suggested they were very numerous ,but I suspect the vast majority of these incidents were appliance fire related

A gas explosion can kill many in one go,carbon monoxide can wreak havoc as well,hence regulation

As far as I know,there is very little concern with fixed installation injury or death figures,they are acceptably low to the government, so they warrant a no concern strategy

 

[snowhead]

The biggest problem with making work on electrical systems illegal unless done by a registered person is the Regs.

Will the "Owners" of the Regs be prepared to give up any claim and future income from them, so they can be used in Statute Law.
The answer is no.

 

[varilite]

That is one of my pet hates t&e connected to plug tops

 

[Tiny Spark]

I agree with kingeri, I have seen some terrible things in the workplace when I did PAT testing.
Ile get some pics up if anyone wanted to see but to name a few:

Extension leads wired with incorrect polarity
Ext lead with the outer sheath torn that much it had got snagged and pulled around 2.5" of conductor out
A plug top which had a 2.5mm 3 core flex put into it where the conductors were all cut and made off around 2" long then stuffed into the plug top! (Must admit I was pretty impressed when I unscrewed the lid and it popped across the room!)

There were many more but all those were from 1 engineering firm!