NICEIC Certification Scheme Tips for my first niceic inspection

[Sparksaflyin]

No, but I woukd arrange to isolate the feed to that particular flat if necessary. There will be a means of isolation for the supply to each flat. If work is required to the live side of that means of isolation then you have to contact the BNO to arrange the necessary permissions etc.

I was talking about the sub main feeding all the said apartments. On paper it’s fine stating exactly how things should be done but in reality it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes the job has to be done and it can’t always be done 100% to the book. I think anyone who says they’ve always 100% done things to the book is a liar, in my opinion.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

As for dealing with the dno. This is absolutely fine if you have an unlimited budget and 6 months to complete every job.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

I understand your point of view and I totally agree things should ALWAYS be done as safely as possible. All I’m saying is sometimes they cannot always be done 100% to the book and from what I’ve heard even the niceic understand this as fact.

 

[Midwest]

I was talking about the sub main feeding all the said apartments. On paper it’s fine stating exactly how things should be done but in reality it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes the job has to be done and it can’t always be done 100% to the book. I think anyone who says they’ve always 100% done things to the book is a liar, in my opinion.

They turned off the power to my local neighbourhood recently, to do some supply work. Sent round a nice little letter a few weeks before. Can't see its a problem. As davesparks said, you should have very good reasons to work live, otherwise you's be in trouble with HSE, should it all go wrong & you survive.

I've had my hands inside a live DB to do some very minor stuff before now, but no one would come to my aid (not literary) if it went wrong.

 

[Midwest]

I would give it a second check with an alternative test instrument. Even if it’s a volt pen.

I wouldn't rely on one of those, with my health on the line. The only way to know that something is 'off', is when it was 'on' and then you've just turned it 'off'.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

They turned off the power to my local neighbourhood recently, to do some supply work. Sent round a nice little letter a few weeks before. Can't see its a problem. As davesparks said, you should have very good reasons to work live, otherwise you's be in trouble with HSE, should it all go wrong & you survive.

I've had my hands inside a live DB to do some very minor stuff before now, but no one would come to my aid (not literary) if it went wrong.

This is all I’m saying. You’ve had your hands inside a live dB board so therefore you cannot say you’ve always followed the book 100%. The times I have worked live have only been what I would consider minor also and have in my opinion been necessary.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

I wouldn't rely on one of those, with my health on the line. The only way to know that something is 'off', is when it was 'on' and then you've just turned it 'off'.

I would only rely on these as a secondary or even third option. Just to check that my primary testing equiptment was correct. It’s purely a back up option in the case stated by someone previously

 

[Midwest]

You’ve had your hands inside a live dB board so therefore you cannot say you’ve always followed the book 100%.

Its that mindset though; I've done it once or twice, it'll be alright.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

Its that mindset though; I've done it once or twice, it'll be alright.

Totally agree with you and it’s most certainly not something I would make a habit of doing

 

[Sparksaflyin]

As someone said previously we are electricians. Our job involves working with something that can kill you at anytime. If working with that risk factor does not appeal then maybe the electrical industry is not for you. Of course we try to minimise that risk factor to the absolute smallest quantity but there is virtually always a potential risk present.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I don't get this stuff about not trusting a proving unit. If your favourite AVI says the proving unit is live and the supply is dead, and another instrument agrees that the proving unit is live and the supply is dead, then there is a vanishingly small chance that the supply is live. With cross checking both live and dead, each instrument validates the others. If you don't have the proving unit and simply rely on the AVI and MFT agreeing that the supply is dead, the probability that it is live is still pretty small but you have no frame of reference for that.

I have blown instruments up, including my trusty Fluke DMM that stopped measuring things after getting a momentary whiff of 50kV. It looked fine but just displayed zeroes all the time. Had I relied on it I would have been stuffed.

 

[The Ghost]

I think one technique is very helpful in this kind of situation. So cover your eyes with wet toilet tissue sit on the loo put your head between your legs and kiss your sweet --- goodbye...oh hang on that's if the atom bomb is going to drop sorry, as you were.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

You can use your own premises as on eof the sample jobs.
If it is a domestic installer registration then one domestic job is required.
If it is an approved contractor registration then it needs to be 3 sample jobs demonstrating the full spectrum of work you carry out, not just domestic work.

I was encouraged to go down the AC route with NICEIC and was told by the assessor if the focus is on domestic in your business, then you can show just domestic jobs. As always I gather that Certsure can be flexible when a cheque is involved.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Are the nic going to want to see an approved voltage tester and proving unit? Or can I get away with using my fluke t5-1000 and proving it on a known source when doing safe isolation, which I’m assuming you’ll have to show?

Get a proving unit and voltage tester, plenty of good offers out there at the moment.

 

[Sparksaflyin]

Get a proving unit and voltage tester, plenty of good offers out there at the moment.

Does my fluke t5-1000 count as a voltage indicator? I’m aware it indicates when there is a voltage present but it’s not dedicated to just this function. My megger multimeter can also indicate when a voltage is present but i know that niceic don’t recognise this as a reliable source for whatever reason