What's your views on 'Part P' of the Building Regulations - Electrical Safety ?.
These Regulations are an insult to people like me who spent years at collage to become qualified as a electrician then electrical engineer then electrical scientist.( now taking it easy).
The new regulations say you have to be 'Competent Person' .
It can cost £2000 to register !.
There seems to be allot of bad feeling from qualified people that you not supposed to even do any electrical work in your own home with out informing the local council ! (ok there is a small number of things you can do)
for example, all the following would now require the involvement of the building control officer:
* Wiring hi-fi loudspeakers in your garden
* Installing an ethernet network point in your kitchen (maximum voltage -- 0.8 volts!)
* Putting lights on your garden (the only garden lighting that is exempt is `pre-assembled CE-marked sets)
* Running a telephone cable under your bathroom floor
I found these site very interesting.
http://www.kevinboone.com/partp.htmlhttp://wiki.diynot.com/electrics:part_p:diy_electrical_work_and_the_lawBuilding Regulations
Part P - Electrical Safety
From 1 January 2005 the design, installation,
inspection and testing of electrical installations will
be controlled under the Building Regulations.
The new Part P will apply mainly to dwelling houses
and flats including gardens and outbuildings such as
sheds, detached garages and green houses.
Small jobs such as provision of a socket-outlet
or a light switch on an existing circuit will not need
to be notified to Building Control (although there
will be some exceptions for high risk areas such as
kitchens and bathrooms).
All work that involves adding a new circuit to
a dwelling, or electrical work in kitchens and
bathrooms or in ‘special locations’ (see table) will
need to be either notified to Building Control with a
building regulation application, or carried out by a
competent person who is registered with a Part P
Self Certification Scheme.
There are two routes available to applicants to
ensure they comply with Part P:-
1. Use an electrician/installer who is registered
with a Competent Person’s Scheme, in which case
a building regulation application will not be
required for the electrical work. We would strongly
encourage the use of electricians/installers who are
part of a Competent Person’s Scheme.
2. Submit a Building Regulation application to a
Local Authority:
A. Where an electrician registered with a
recognised trade body such as NICEIC, ECA & NAPIT
(who need not be registered under a competent
person’s scheme) tests the work and issues a
design, installation and test certificate under
BS7671. Building Control will accept the certificate
as evidence that the work complies with Part P.
Additional inspections by Building Control may also
be carried out in conjunction with the acceptance
of a certificate (a list of those electricians
competent to inspect and test will be available on
the internet at labc-services.co.uk. or from organisations
participating in full-scope schemes).
B. Where the work is carried out by an
unregistered electrician or is a DIY installation, the
applicant is required to have the work inspected
and tested by a registered electrician as in A above.
The diagram below shows the various routes to
ensure Part P compliance:
To notify or not that is the question?
Except as identified in the chart opposite (continued
overleaf), notifcation of proposals to carry out
electrical installation will be given to a building
control body before work begins, unless the work is
undertaken by a person registered with a Part P self
certification scheme.
Whether or not work is notifiable is dependant on
the naure of installation work proposed and its
location within a dwelling. The location is
important because some special installations or
locations, such as kitchens and bathrooms, may pose
a greater risk to people.