Death through dodgy wiring

[Andy Hall]

You can buy new coloured cable now, so it would be legitimate to say that you did the work before the introduction of Part P.

Considering the practicalities, it seems to me that there are three scenarios where the issue comes up:

- new and additional building work involving a building control notice or application. An inspection gets done.

- something bad happens such as this Darwin situation, or a fire etc. Officialdom gets involved and it's determined that the householder DIYed the job and it wasn't inspected. Really all that has changed is that an offence will have been committed.

- the house is on the market and the issue comes up with solicitor'q questions. Thi s is a moot point, because the purchaser will probably get an electrical inspection done anyway.

.andy

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[Dave Liquorice]

It does seem to be on the wane...

I can see some circumstances where parents might object to photos of their child, anything from belief system to hiding from abusive partner.

However it's just pigging stupid of the school to deprive the rest of the school of the photo, simply ensure that those pupils that cannot be in the photo aren't. Or is that not "politicaly correct" as it singles those pupils out as "different", bah, stuff 'em they had a choice.

[Andy Hall]

That sums it up pretty well. Andrew Gabriel also did a lot of research and the conclusion was that the vast majority of electrical injuries in the home were from faulty portable appliances, with fixed wiring related issues very much smaller.

If set in the context of all accidents in the home, electricity related ones pale into insignificance.

Several of us wrote to our MPs at the time and kept a close eye on developments reported on the ODPM web site, among other places.

The figures and comments were massaged to de-emphasise anything based on statistics and anyhting dissenting from what had almost certainly been decided by Rocky and his sidekick Raynsford.

MPs making enquiries received waffly duplicated letters which said nothing apart from the party line.

The risk assessment that was done focussed more on anecdotal opinion from interested parties such as the IEE, NICEIC and others with something to gain economically or politically.

Little or no tthought was given to enforcability, and of course in practice this is unenforcable apart from in certain defined circumstances.

There will still be electrical DIY and there will still be people doing electrical work who are unregistered.

.andy

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[G&M]

Certain religions don't allow the taking of photographs so I assume this overrides this requirement.

[Dave Liquorice]

44 on average, not many. How many get killed on the roads each year?

Figures for 2003:

"3,508 people were killed on Britains roads in 2003, 2 per cent more than in 2002. The number of people seriously injured fell to 33,707, 6 per cent lower than in 2002. Total casualties in 2003 were 290,607, 4 percent fewer than in 2002;"

So not far short of 10 people *per day* are killed on UK roads. I don't see any new regulations coming in to enforce higher driving standards or banning the general public from driving completely, allowing only those who are members of a closed shop body to drive.

[Dave Liquorice]

Or time when the the bit of cable they have just threaded through 6 joists is to short by 12"...

[Jim]

The inspector reported that; A two-and-a-half inch black mark with yellow bruising was found on her left ankle, indicating the spot where the electricity had left her body and travelled to the dishwasher, I would not be happy to agree with this statment Electric shock victims suffer burns not brusing Most people who are shock victims survive because of muscle retraction, Also, The kitchen fitter did not break any law in wiring the hood as there are non Jim

[Dave Liquorice]

CEF, Penrith said the opposite last month, new colours only. After I bought a reel of 2.5mm and spotted it was new colour.

[James Hart]

When we were kids it was always sort of implied that the standard good quality school photo was needed for the media and police for the "school kid missing, here's what he looks like" situations. Nowadays when you see a missing person on the telly, it's often a zoomed-in crop of a holiday snap that doesn't clearly show the person involved, makes you wonder if there was some truth in what we were told after all.

[G&M]

What amazes me is when less than 10 people get killed in a very rare train crash, the whole system gets suspended for months.

[Steve Firth]

I've seen it done once. It was on one of those TV DIY programs that involves Linda Barker screeching. A spur wired diagonally from the socket positioned about 4ft above the floor in the middle of a wall down to the bottom right to provide an outlet for a washing machine.

I was surprised that they showed the program.

[G&M]

No shortage of those in this world !

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)" saying something like:

I've seen it done several times, from the cooker switch to the final emerging point of the cooker cable to the cooker.

Feckin' potentially lethal, and that was done by sparks.

[Tim S]

Heh. Was MDF involved by any chance?

Timbo

[Richard Porter]

Muscles contract. If there are two muscles working in opposition the stronger one wins so for example your hand will grip rather than opening. If you touch something live with the back of your hand and you'll be thrown off: if you grab hold of it you won't be able to let go. If you get a shock you can quite easily hit or kick something, including yourself, or throw yourself against the nearest hard object.

[Richard Porter]

AFAIAA most road casualities occur in 30mph or lower limits.

I'd quite like to have visible trunking for sockets, though conduit would be a bit unsightly for lights and switches.

[Steve Firth]

Oh yes, and curtains on springy bits of wire just like in the 50s.

[Phil Addison]

Isn't running it on the surface where its obvious to everyone also allowed? And what does a 2" trench in a wall do to it's structural integrity?

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

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[Phil Addison]

Bloody 'ell, you've just reminded me that my daughter has one of these metal racks above her hob, and below the cupboard where an extractor fan can be fitted. And I do recall seeing a fused outlet in the back of the cupboard. I'll be round there with my meters and detectors tomorrow to see if its feed is anywhere near the screws!!!

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

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[Peter Parry]

Actually they will make things worse. By making minor improvements - like adding extra sockets - much more expensive for most people they will encourage the use of extension sockets, trailing leads etc with the consequent increase in risk from both falling over them and fires.