Two NICEIC installers failed to spot the lack of earth

[JosephandAmber]

Agent contacts me with an urgent request for a CU upgrade in Camden. They send over an EICR done the previous month and I have a quick skim. All seems pretty simple, CU needs an upgrade and some basic tidying of fixtures etc. Only 3 circuits so I'm not overly bothered about doing another EICR prior to doing the CU replacement.

Turn up to the property and within 10 mins I note there is no visible MET, nor is there any visible earth supply coming from the head. So I head inside and run some tests, again no earth. So I knock on the basement property and ask to test their installation, again no earth. Ok, so by this point I'm baffled by the lack of a main earth. So I called UKPN who send an engineer and he confirmed my fears, the property has never had an earth supply nor will they add one. As a result, he then issues all 4 flats with a Sec 26 ESQCR notice and turns off power to the entire building.

As you can imagine with 4 privately rented flats each with their own agents and landlords it kicks off. Turns out 2 of the 4 flats had EICRs completed within the past 3 months. One had a new CU installed. The property HAS NO EARTH!

Both EICRs were issued by NICEIC approved installers. Readings were recorded that could not have physically been taken. What is going on!?

 

[Midwest]

I don't think its a failure of the system, nor the bodies employed for the system, its more to do with the honesty of the individuals carrying out work.

I would argue that the vast percentage of members on this forum are honest individuals, who would only ever carry out accurate reliable works. Are they representative of all electricians, I doubt it.

Honesty has a sliding scale though. If one found a wallet in the street, filled with credit cards & cash. I would like to think most, would take steps to return the item to the owner. If one found a £20 note under an ATM, would you hand it into the bank.

 

[ipf]

COW now that brings back memories, as does RE and RA on larger projects. (anyone remember what they where?)

Registered is the key word, of course.

Maybe these days it's just stick to R Electrician.
It always has been R Archangel........coz only god can 'lay a finger' on the architect.

 

[UNG]

If one found a £20 note under an ATM, would you hand it into the bank.

At the rate banks are closing branches it might be difficult to hand it in

A few years ago I found a £10 note on the floor in one of the aisles of a supermarket I handed it in to the customer service desk who seemed totally disinterested, I often wonder was it reclaimed or just went in someones pocket

 

[Pretty Mouth]

If one found a wallet in the street, filled with credit cards & cash. I would like to think most, would take steps to return the item to the owner. If one found a £20 note under an ATM, would you hand it into the bank.

The former is very easy to prove who the rightful owner is. The latter, nearly impossible. May as well go in your own pocket rather than the bank's

 

[Midwest]

May as well go in your own pocket rather than the bank's

You've just committed theft by finding. Told you honesty had a sliding scale

 

[Mike Johnson]

Registered is the key word, of course.

Maybe these days it's just stick to R Electrician.
It always has been R Archangel........coz only god can 'lay a finger' on the architect.

Resident is the key word for Resident Engineer and Resident Architect they where the people on site to ensure the building was constructed in accordance with the design, in the day's of the RE and RA it was a requirement of becoming qualified to have spent at least six months on a project to learn the practical building methods, not just the design carried out in the office, this unfortunately does not happen anymore and I think construction is worse off for it.

 

[Pretty Mouth]

You've just committed theft by finding. Told you honesty had a sliding scale

Oh, sorry officer, I thought It was one I'd accidentally dropped myself officer

 

[Midwest]

Oh, sorry officer, I thought It was one I'd accidentally dropped myself officer

Sorry you can’t use that defence, you’ve already made your admission in #79.

 

[mainline]

And a lot of those aren't worth the paper they are written / printed on
How does anyone lower their standards to get into these schemes

The former is very easy to prove who the rightful owner is. The latter, nearly impossible. May as well go in your own pocket rather than the bank's

The legal way to do it would be to hand it in to a police station, then if it's not claimed within 28 days then it's yours.
What would I do? , would depend on the time of day, costa, or Burger King

 

[loz2754]

The legal way to do it would be to hand it in to a police station, then if it's not claimed within 28 days then it's yours.
What would I do? , would depend on the time of day, costa, or Burger King

Why would you hand it in to Costa or Burger King?
And what's the time of day got to do with the price of cornflakes? Is it because the police station is closed?

 

[mainline]

Why would you hand it in to Costa or Burger King?
And what's the time of day got to do with the price of cornflakes? Is it because the police station is closed?

I wouldn't eat a Burger King in the morning, but I do like a costa coffee, and neither of them are free.

 

[ipf]

Why would you hand it in to Costa or Burger King?
And what's the time of day got to do with the price of cornflakes? Is it because the police station is closed?

Cop shop? 5 miles to my nearest....used to be 500 yards.
They're cost cut shutting everywhere.............except Costa, Burger King, etc..of course.
Local bank's an ATM now.

 

[Simon47]

I don't think its a failure of the system, nor the bodies employed for the system, its more to do with the honesty of the individuals carrying out work.

I disagree.
While the primary cause is lying scum - the thing that lets them get away with it is the failure of the scams to police standards. When registered contractors can do substandard work or miss blatant faults when inspecting, and the scams do nothing about it, then there's precious little holding up standards across the industry. It will be interesting to see what happens with the two involved in missing the lack of earthing and lying about what testing/inspection they've done - my money is "nothing at all"

 

[UNG]

Cop shop? 5 miles to my nearest....used to be 500 yards.
They're cost cut shutting everywhere.............except Costa, Burger King, etc..of course.
Local bank's an ATM now.

At the local police station by me they closed the custody suite and now take anyone arrested to another police station about 15 miles away the PCC say it saves just around £630k per year somebody has recently costed all the police time lost in tranporting them to another police station when they could be policing the local area and local officers traveling to interview them and it is believed to be costing somewhere in the region of £1.3m people are trying to understand where the saving is

 

[ipf]

At the local police station by me they closed the custody suite and now take anyone arrested to another police station about 15 miles away the PCC say it saves just around £630k per year somebody has recently costed all the police time lost in tranporting them to another police station when they could be policing the local area and local officers traveling to interview them and it is believed to be costing somewhere in the region of £1.3m people are trying to understand where the saving is

Crazy! They probably save by paying less work persons and renting out or selling off prime land properties.
Rubbish, short term budgeting, probably.