Part P of the building regulations scrapped!
I am a fully qualified JIB Approved Electrician with 18 years experience. Since Part P of the building regulations was introduced I was suddenly not allowed to carry out certain works in a domestic property unless I paid a fee to a "Part P Scheme", however 5 day "part P" training course's sprung up and now bricklayers with no experience are doing the 5 day course and then carrying out electrical work in people's homes!
Who would knowingly have someone carry out electrical work in their home with only 5 days experiance? In order for me to gain my City & Guilds in electrical installations I had to go through a 4 YEAR intensive training program and once that was completed I took various other courses such as a 6 week C&G 2391 testing, inspection & certification, so how on earth can a 5 day course be adequate.
As all electricians know, we are always learning in this industry and you cannot learn the entire BS:7671 2008 IEE wiring regulations and gain the nessacesry experience required in 5 days flat. Nobody would let someone carry out a surgical operation on them with only 5 days experience, electrical work is no different. One example is a local kitchen fitter, he used to pay good local electricians to carry out the electrical work for him, and then arrived "Part P", he did a 5 day course and added to his van "House Rewires" just below "kitchen installations" Would you let a self tought kitchen fitter rewire your home if you knew the truth of his training? As he isn't even a qualified kitchen fitter let alone an electrician. I have refused to pay this stealth tax for Part P registration therefor I no longer carry out domestic works, I leave it to the bricklayers and kitchen fitters (their prices are always cheaper as they don't know what they are doing, you get what you pay for) Part P is a licence for unqualified inexperienced incompetent people to carry out and legally certify unsafe work.
I get inundated with "Part P" builders, plumbers, shoe menders plasterers, tilers, kitchen fitters, dress makers, computer programmers, shop owners ect….who did the 5 day part P course and now carrying out electrical work, phoning me and asking me the simplest of electrical questions on problems they have. I now advise them to go back to dress making and leave electrical work to the professionals. If I had a penny every time I saw someone in a DIY store holding a cooker switch and gazing at some door bell wire (as it's the cheapest cable) I wouldn't need to work.
Another example is, I had been asked by a letting agent to carry out a Periodic Inspection Report on a domestic property which was to be rented, the inspection failed due to having NO MAIN EARTH, this is enough to condemn the installation as it could be an electric shock risk, we all know that electricity can kill. To my amazement the owner told me he had it recently tested by his own Part P electrician who signed it off as safe. It was clearly evident that the Part P so called electrician had installed bonding to the mains gas and water service, but as he could not fit the new earths into the earth bar he disconnected the MAIN earth in order to connect his bonding cables, leaving the installation worse off than before he started.
Another example, A letting agent called me out to a property where a child had received an electric shock from a cable in the garden, when I arrived I was shown to the garden where I found an exposed live end of flex sticking out between the gaps in the patio where the children where playing, unbelivable I know. I completly removed the said cable and unsured it was made safe, I also advised them it to have the property fully Tested & Inspected as I had also noticed the shed was not RCD protected and there were numerous other dangers. I was stunned when I was informed they had only been in the property a couple of weeks and the property had been tested before they moved in. I aksed if I could see their paper work on the inspection and they showed me a peace of paper which showed it was a worthless made up inspection report a washing machine repair man had made up on his computer, all it had on it was the installation address a few tick boxes and his signature stating the installation was safe.
I informed the letting agent of my findings at the property and of the paper work I had been shown, I did my up most best to explain to the letting agent what this guy is doing and that the Certifiacte he produced was worthless and he had signed of a dangerous installation where a child had an electric shock due to his incompetance as safe but they did not seam to care as he was cheaper than everyone else and he was Part P registered. The numerous Part P schemes need to be scrapped as they do not work (there is nothing to stop joe bloggs popping to a DIY store, buying the wrong materials and carrying out the unsafe work himself – as its cheaper) and all electrical work to be only carried out by licenced JIB electricians.
You should not be able to even buy certain electrical items such as fuse boards ect without being registered with the JIB (Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Contracting Industry) and no more. I know of people who have had no training what so ever but they are working on building sites wiring new homes, shops ect… working for a registered company so they are getting away with it.
Why is this idea important?
I am a fully qualified JIB Approved Electrician with 18 years experience. Since Part P of the building regulations was introduced I was suddenly not allowed to carry out certain works in a domestic property unless I paid a fee to a "Part P Scheme", however 5 day "part P" training course's sprung up and now bricklayers with no experience are doing the 5 day course and then carrying out electrical work in people's homes!
Who would knowingly have someone carry out electrical work in their home with only 5 days experiance? In order for me to gain my City & Guilds in electrical installations I had to go through a 4 YEAR intensive training program and once that was completed I took various other courses such as a 6 week C&G 2391 testing, inspection & certification, so how on earth can a 5 day course be adequate.
As all electricians know, we are always learning in this industry and you cannot learn the entire BS:7671 2008 IEE wiring regulations and gain the nessacesry experience required in 5 days flat. Nobody would let someone carry out a surgical operation on them with only 5 days experience, electrical work is no different. One example is a local kitchen fitter, he used to pay good local electricians to carry out the electrical work for him, and then arrived "Part P", he did a 5 day course and added to his van "House Rewires" just below "kitchen installations" Would you let a self tought kitchen fitter rewire your home if you knew the truth of his training? As he isn't even a qualified kitchen fitter let alone an electrician. I have refused to pay this stealth tax for Part P registration therefor I no longer carry out domestic works, I leave it to the bricklayers and kitchen fitters (their prices are always cheaper as they don't know what they are doing, you get what you pay for) Part P is a licence for unqualified inexperienced incompetent people to carry out and legally certify unsafe work.
I get inundated with "Part P" builders, plumbers, shoe menders plasterers, tilers, kitchen fitters, dress makers, computer programmers, shop owners ect….who did the 5 day part P course and now carrying out electrical work, phoning me and asking me the simplest of electrical questions on problems they have. I now advise them to go back to dress making and leave electrical work to the professionals. If I had a penny every time I saw someone in a DIY store holding a cooker switch and gazing at some door bell wire (as it's the cheapest cable) I wouldn't need to work.
Another example is, I had been asked by a letting agent to carry out a Periodic Inspection Report on a domestic property which was to be rented, the inspection failed due to having NO MAIN EARTH, this is enough to condemn the installation as it could be an electric shock risk, we all know that electricity can kill. To my amazement the owner told me he had it recently tested by his own Part P electrician who signed it off as safe. It was clearly evident that the Part P so called electrician had installed bonding to the mains gas and water service, but as he could not fit the new earths into the earth bar he disconnected the MAIN earth in order to connect his bonding cables, leaving the installation worse off than before he started.
Another example, A letting agent called me out to a property where a child had received an electric shock from a cable in the garden, when I arrived I was shown to the garden where I found an exposed live end of flex sticking out between the gaps in the patio where the children where playing, unbelivable I know. I completly removed the said cable and unsured it was made safe, I also advised them it to have the property fully Tested & Inspected as I had also noticed the shed was not RCD protected and there were numerous other dangers. I was stunned when I was informed they had only been in the property a couple of weeks and the property had been tested before they moved in. I aksed if I could see their paper work on the inspection and they showed me a peace of paper which showed it was a worthless made up inspection report a washing machine repair man had made up on his computer, all it had on it was the installation address a few tick boxes and his signature stating the installation was safe.
I informed the letting agent of my findings at the property and of the paper work I had been shown, I did my up most best to explain to the letting agent what this guy is doing and that the Certifiacte he produced was worthless and he had signed of a dangerous installation where a child had an electric shock due to his incompetance as safe but they did not seam to care as he was cheaper than everyone else and he was Part P registered. The numerous Part P schemes need to be scrapped as they do not work (there is nothing to stop joe bloggs popping to a DIY store, buying the wrong materials and carrying out the unsafe work himself – as its cheaper) and all electrical work to be only carried out by licenced JIB electricians.
You should not be able to even buy certain electrical items such as fuse boards ect without being registered with the JIB (Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Contracting Industry) and no more. I know of people who have had no training what so ever but they are working on building sites wiring new homes, shops ect… working for a registered company so they are getting away with it.