According to Government statistics, each year on
average 10 people die and about 750 are seriously injured in
accidents involving unsafe electrical installations in the home.
To help address this issue, the Construction Industry
Deregulation Task Force recommended in 1995 that
electrical safety requirements should be included in the
Building Regulations.
Part P of the building regulations is intended to
increase the safety of households by improving the design,
installation, inspection and testing of electrical installations
in dwellings when these installations are being newly built,
extended or altered.
In essence:
A new requirement, has been
added to Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations. This
requirement, ‘Requirement P', has been limited to fixed
electrical installations in dwellings, with minor works not
needing to be notified.
A new Approved Document P
has been published, giving guidance on ways of complying
that are based on the fundamental principles set out in
Chapter 13 of BS 7671: 2001.
The Approved Document includes:
Guidance relating to the
design, installation, inspection and testing of electrical
installations.
Guidance on types of
electrical work that would not normally need to be notified
to building control bodies
Appendices that contain
illustrations of the sorts of electrical services commonly
required in homes, examples of model electrical installation
certificates, and illustrations of what equipment may be
encountered when work is carried out on older electrical
installations.
The Requirement
The Building Regulations apply when building work is undertaken.
Part P will redefine building work to include electrical work on
certain types of fixed electrical installation in dwellings. The
new requirement in the Building Regulations, ‘Requirement P', is
simply that:
P1 Design, Installation, Inspection and Testing
Reasonable provision shall be made in the design, installation,
inspection and testing of electrical installations in order to
protect persons from fire or injury.
P2
Provision Information
Sufficient information shall be provided so that persons wishing
to operate, maintain or alter an electrical installation can do
so with reasonable safety.
The limits on the application of the requirement
is that Requirement P applies only to fixed electrical
installations that are intended to operate at low voltage or
extra-low voltage which are not controlled by the Electricity
Supply Regulations 1988 as amended, or the Electricity at Work
Regulations 1989 as amended.
Enforcement
Failure to comply with the requirement will be a criminal
offence. Local authorities will also have the power to require
the removal or alteration of work that does not comply with the
Building Regulations.
Intended work that is subject to the provisions
of Part P will have to be notified to the local authority.
Traditionally, work notifiable under the Building Regulations is
subject to inspection by the local authority's building control
department (or other approved building inspector). However, to
avoid the need for local authorities to appoint specialist
agents for this purpose, it appears likely that building control
bodies would be authorized to accept certificates of compliance
(ie Electrical Installation Certificates) issued by ‘Competent
Firms'.
Under such Competent Firms provisions,
appropriately approved electrical contractors are able to
self-certify that their work meets the requirements of the
Building Regulations. In this case there will be a need to
supply the relevant building control body (as well as the person
ordering the work) with an Electrical Installation Certificate
signed by a competent person. The alternative would be to pay a
fee to have the work inspected by a local authority building
control department, or other approved private sector building
inspector.
For the purposes of Part P, the Government has
defined ‘Competent Firms' as those registered under the NICEIC
Approved Contractor scheme, the Domestic Installer Scheme and
the Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme.
*my consumer unit (fuse board) incorporates:
MCB'S
(trip switches)
30mA
RCD (large fuse with a test switch built in )
a
valid test sticker indicating the intervals between tests. a
valid test sticker is almost like an indication of an M.O.T like
certificate for your home
IMPORTANT!
green/yellow earth wire attached to your water and gas stop
taps, these must be a specific size (10mm2) and must be
connected to the consumer side of the tap adequately. THESE ARE
CALLED MAIN EQUIPOTENTIAL BONDING CONDUCTORS AND ARE OFTEN
OVERLOOKED BUT ARE VERY IMPORTANT!
Test
certification valid for your whole installation
Obviously this survey cannot guarantee safety but
is a good guideline, if you are unable to tick any of the check
boxes then there is cause for concern and I would suggest an
inspection from a qualified N.I.C.E.I.C test engineer.
We provide a free survey called V.I.G.C (visual
inspection of the general condition) report, which will
highlight potential risks.
If you would like to schedule a date for a VIGC
for your home then please contact our us on 0800 6121067 / 0115
9783377 alternately you can contact us by e-mail via
info@wiredelectric.co.uk
A periodic inspection carried out by a competent
electrician is an inspection to determine the condition of an
electrical installation. The purpose is to identify, so far as
reasonably practicable, any factors impairing the safety of the
electrical installation, and to make appropriate recommendations
for remedial action. The electrician will issue a periodic
inspection report (PIR), which is a report on an existing
electrical installation.
The Approved Contractor carrying out a periodic
inspection will check the electrical installation against the
current edition of BS 7671.
It is recommended that periodic inspection and
testing is carried out:
• for tenanted properties at each change of occupancy
• at least every 10 years for a domestic installation
• at least every 5 years for a commercial installation.
The Landlords and Tenant Act 1995 requires landlords of
properties with short leases to keep the electrical
installations in repair and proper working order. The NICEIC
recommends landlords arrange for periodic inspection and testing
to be carried out by an Approved Contractor at the intervals
shown above.
Periodic inspection and testing should be carried
out more frequently for other types of electrical installations.
For example:
• 3 years for caravans
• 3 years for industrial premises
• 1 year for swimming pools
• 3 months for construction sites.
On completion of the periodic inspection, if the
Period Inspection Report (PIR) recommends improvements to the
installation, ask for a fixed price quotation for the remedial
work from at least three Approved Contractors. The improvements
do not have to be carried out by the Approved Contractor who
provided the PIR.
No, you do not have to pay twice. If we perform
an Inspection and Test and there are non-compliant results, we
will offer you a quotation to rectify the faults and include the
cost [based on the extra time taken ONLY] to retest these items.
However, if you decide to get the remedial work done by someone
else then the whole test will have to be repeated and you may
end up paying more.
SO - the most cost effective way to gain a
'passed' Inspection and Test is to have the test done, have any
remedial work done [by the same person] and have the re-test
elements included in the quotation - you then pay ONLY for work
done rather than paying twice.
When an electrical installation is rewired, every
effort should be made to remove redundant wiring. In exceptional
circumstances, if it is not possible, any redundant wiring must
be permanently disconnected from any electrical supply so that
it cannot present a hazard.
An RCD [Residual Current Device] monitors the
balance of the live and neutral electric current flow. An
imbalance occurs if electrical current leaks from a circuit
because of faulty insulation or because someone has touched a
live part and received an electric shock. If the RCD detects an
imbalance, it switches off the electricity supply immediately -
fast enough to prevent an electric shock being fatal.
Not necessarily, although this can depend on
access to the existing circuit [because of the type of floor
coverings]. A typical example would be adding an extra socket to
the opposite side of a room that only had one original socket.
As with all electrical work, safety to us and
others is a priority - so first and foremost the electricity
supply to your home will have to be turned off!
Installing new cables can mean lifting carpets
and floorboards. Lifting carpets or floorboards in itself is not
a difficulty, but problems can arise when you have a highly
polished wooden floor, tiled floor, laminated floor or even
chipboard floorboards!
Mounting electrical boxes will require drilling,
and with that there will be dust and noise created! Recessing
sockets, switches and cables in walls requires chiseling, and
this creates noise and dust. After recessing cables the walls
will need finishing - we can smooth them over for you [but I am
not a professional plasterer or decorator]!
As with all of these types of jobs, we will cause
the least amount of disruption possible and ensure that your
electricity supply is back on as soon as possible.
When we carry out electrical work, we have to
ensure other parts of your installation are safe and comply with
the regulations, so sometimes additional work may be needed,
like bonding your gas and water stop taps if they are not done.
You will of course be informed before work starts.
Just because something works, doesn't mean it is
safe and complies with the regulations. You wouldn't use
hosepipe and sellotape to supply gas around your home, but it
would work ok! And the same goes for some electrical
installations that work OK, but if a fault did occur, it is more
likely to catch fire than behave like it should.
Most homes now already have RCD`s fitted, but if
yours doesn't, then the regulations state that any socket that
may be used to supply equipment for use outdoors, must be RCD
protected. This is mainly for downstairs sockets only, and will
make your installation a lot safer.
When you have a mains change, the whole
installation must be inspected and tested, and a certificate
issued. This means all outlets need to be seen and
checked/tested and repaired/replaced if necessary. You will then
receive a test certificate for your home which can be used if
you sell it or re-mortgage.
