Part P – Revocation

The idea

Part P should be either revoked completely or re-worked from scratch.

Why is it important?

There are multiple reason for this:

1: The regs re-define 'competent' as being a paid-up member of an organisation – one-man-one-job under a different name.

People who are genuinely competent by ability and experience are not allowed to do work they are capable of, unless they join the organisation.

2: The 'Electricians only' concept for domestic electrical work has been tried in other countries (eg. Australia) and been found to increase electrical risks in the long term.

The honest one-man outfits who cannot afford the fees will not do the work, leaving either large companies who can self-certify anyone they like to do the work, or the real cowboys who just ignore the regs.

Work is either expensive so not being done & leaving hazards in place, or being done by cowboys who have no regard for safety.

3: The existing regs have draconian scope. They cover not only mains power but fixed low voltage wiring such as burglar alarm, telephone, loudspeaker and TV aerial wiring. The only exception is computer data cables.

Many things such things as fitting off-the-shelf plug-together solar garden lighting or installing a fixed pump in your pond are now illegal to do in your own home.

4: They breach the Human Right act in various ways, eg. intellectual property among other things.

I'm an electronics designer by profession. I have held an Amateur Radio licence since 1979 and have had a number of articles published. I'm also actively interested in such areas as home automation and multimedia integration.

The regulations, as well as making it illegal to work on radio aerial wiring, mean any wiring changes would have to be inspected by another person, causing loss of confidentiality of any innovations involved.

(When the regs were first introduced, I read them carefully and I believe I found twelve possible Human Rights breaches).

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A more workable scheme, which would give far more overall protection to the public, could be mandatory registration of ID and contact information for any person doing work in other peoples homes.

A simple register style system held by local councils, with a token fee for registration (eg. £5.00 ?) but a major fine for not keeping details up to date or working without registration.

Details required to be kept up to date for five years after last work done for warranty / quality contact.

That would allow all work to be traceable, not only electrical but such as cowboy builders & roofers would be kept in check.