To continue the debate ......... when doing an EICR it has to be done against current regs, of which the 17th regs state sockets liable to provide outside equipment must be RCD protected. The regs then further advise that in completing an EICR you report that discrepancy as either C1 "Danger Present", C2 "Potentially Dangerous" or C3 "further investigation required/improvement recommended".
Nowhere in the regs does it give examples of typical codes, so you as the responsible engineer use your engineering judgement to decide without consulting any of the electrical industry governing bodies. No RCD protection was acceptable when you were an apprentice fitting re-wireable fuse boards and you still consider it safe. Thats your call but the IET dont as they've update the Regs to say that sockets should have RCD protection. If they thought it was still safe not to have RCD protection then they wouldn’t have made it a requirement?
OK, you made your engineering call that the socket isn’t able to provide outside power or needs RCD protection if it can be used outside. In "your" opinion you mark it on the EICR as a C3. To you its not considered “dangerous” or “potentially dangerous” but just needs an improvement at a later date to meet current regs which make it safer for the user -- by that admission you are sort of implying you dont think its safe??
Now little Jimmy is playing on a bouncy castle in the garden fed from that very socket you have called a C3 on your EICR and receives an electric shock, probably causing death. HSE will now have an interest in speaking to you along with a gentleman from
"where there's a blame there's a claim" solicitors Ltd. who have been in contact with little Jimmy Dad.
You end up in court and they call any of the electrical industry bodies (IET, ESC, NICEIC, ELECSA etc ...) as expert witnesses for the prosecution. Between them they give their engineering opinion stating that it should have been a C2 and an "unsatisfactory" for continued use, with an RCD being fitted before it became "satisfactory" for further use. As per their regulations and guidance, hence saving little Jimmys life. They also bring out a multitude of publications, which are freely available to every electrician who is completing an EICR should he need guidance. These give their recommended codes for various faults, of which the socket one was a C2.
The judge calls case to answer and you step into the 'dock' to counter their ‘expert’ engineering opinion as to why you found it perfectly safe for the socket to feed outside equipment without RCD protection and why you didn’t need to follow any guidance from within the electrical industry ........
p.s. The above is all speculative but I speak from experience of having seen HSE bring a charge and then seeing a colleague in the 'dock' getting a savaging over his interpretation of regulations (not electrical) when industry body experts gave their different engineering judgements/interpretations which hadn’t been followed. The result was the company was found guilty and suffered a healthy fine. (Fortunately there were no fatalities)
Motto of the story .....
Rules are for the adherence of fools or the guidance of wise men who know how to apply them … and there is plenty of guidance out there that can assist you if you don’t know how to apply them!
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Fair point ....
