by ericmark »
Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:25 am
For many years electricians working on houses had very little training. We in the commercial side referred to them as “House Bashers” in a derogative way and some of the work completed was well under standard. There were of course good ones as well but all got tarred with same brush. Unlike the commercial side the people employing these electricians had no idea how go or bad they were and qualifications meant nothing to normal house holder. There was a need to licence electricians so the normal house holder knew if the guy he was employing did know what he was doing.
The first attempt was JIB and NAECI the former issued a card the latter has computer data base and for firms employing sparks it worked of sorts although when I with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering applied to JIB for a card they wanted me to register as a Electricians mate don’t think I need to tell you reply. Although this helped firms it did not help the private house holder and many dangerous jobs were completed.
Part P was an attempt to redress this problem and in many ways it has but there are problems in it was designed to let the DIY man or Industrial Electrician to continue to be able to do work on domestic but to fit a extra socket in a kitchen would cost around £50 but the local council want £70 just to register the work. And in some cases the council charge silly amounts so the DIY man etc. have shunned the system and carried on regardless where had it been a reasonable price they may have followed the law. On the other hand had it not been a high price that the councils charged, firms may have not joined the umbrella companies licensed to over see the commercial side of Part P.
For registered small firms it has worked, and even sole traders now have their work checked from time to time and in general the workmanship is now a lot better than the industrial electrician can afford to do. The big thing is they have to have the test equipment and all work is tested on completion so silly mistakes are found.
For the larger firms there is still a problem where electricians are employed to do one off jobs and can work for the firm for a year without ever being checked by the umbrella company who seem to rely in the main on the larger firms own management hierarchy.
While this was all going on the industrial standard setters also realised there were too many accidents and some of these could be avoided by altering the standards to include some of the new technology now available, and to harmonise more with our EEC partners. The rest of Europe has not adopted our 13 amp socket and have relied much more on RCD protection then we have now we have also embraced the protection afforded by the RCD.
With both going on at the same time we have now a very safe system. But the problem of the last 20 years will not go away with the bang of the law makers mitre and in the mean time Electricians are having a hard time where seemingly simple jobs have be much more complex where not only have the requirements increased but in the past the requirements were never met anyway. How many house holders have their house checked every 10 years or change of ownership? We all see it. “It was like that when I moved in.” so where was the solicitor and why didn’t he ask to see the periodic inspection report. Now they are also catching up and are starting to ask to see the PIR’s and completion certificates. Which means a job done today, may have the report viewed in 9 years time. Any faults found could result in an Electrician being fined 9 years after doing the job. Any wonder they will not cut corners?
I here the cash in hand no paper work brigade are doing well as they can under cut the registered electrician and by telling the house holder that really they should register the work under Part P but if you don’t say anything neither will I then they have not really committed a crime as it is the house holders responsibility to ensure the work is registered. And if the work is not up to scratch the house holder is afraid to report it as they already know what they did was illegal. This of course suits the no paper work brigade as unless really bad no one is likely to report them. Like stealing off a thief. Only way to reduce this is for council to reduce their charges.
Of course very annoying to registered sparks who are then asked to correct the work often having to rip it out and start again. The owner tells them it was done years ago but we all know it wasn’t and the tighter money gets the more it happens.
Hear endeth the lesson Eric
