The real cost of testing Cheap

Unfortunately when you’re trying to compete with a market slowly drowning in 5DW, who can get through the Part P course, and think they know what they’re doing in an office block or a factory, let alone a house, but do not even know what a piece of VIR, Rubber, Lead, Pyro Etc. is no wonder the industry is in such a mess, but they are cheap!

That coupled with using Testing as a loss leader for the past 3 decades, which most of the large companies are all guilty of;  just to get the remedial works, and now you’re left with Large FM companies trying to get you to do testing for £ 4.50 per circuit because they bought the work at £5.50, need I say more.

Testing is not considered important, it is also considered a waste of time and money by many managers and an unnecessary cost, if they can find a way out of doing it or delaying it they will.

And faced with paying £ 8-14 pounds per circuit, for a professional company, subject of course to the type of building or paying £ 4.50 they will always go with the cheaper price, they are only interested in getting the piece of paper and cannot see the Danger in getting it done cheap, because they do not know what is correct.

I lost out to one of these companies a few years ago, they are no longer here, they were cheap one of the building tested, went up in smoke 18 months ago the insurance refused to pay out as there paperwork was considered worthless upon proper inspection, unfortunately 3 people died.

They control over 1500 buildings around the country all done by this company, upon closer inspection, the insurance company have now refused to insure the bulk of their properties until proper inspections are done.

Guess what they are trying to get it done for less than £ 5.00 per circuit, they have not learnt, and obviously there staff and tenants, mean nothing to them, I say make Testing LAW like the GAS and stop the 5DW and the Cowboys once and for all, simples. 

Legal Requirements

The law requires that all business owners, their directors, managers and employees comply with "The Electricity at Work Regulations".

The law simply requires that all electrical systems must be maintained to be safe at all times.

No system or part of it may give rise to danger during either normal operation or under fault conditions.

Regulation 4(2)
"All systems to be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, danger"."System" means the wiring of an electrical installation and everything connected to it.

Regulation (29) states:
"It shall be a defence for any person to prove that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of that offence"

Test reports, together with other preventative maintenance documentation will form the basis of this proof and will provide your best defence against prosecution should the need arise.

Duty holders are responsible for setting up adequate maintenance programmes and must assess the needs and frequency requirement of testing, maintaining and monitoring electrical systems and equipment. Generally, the following test intervals may be applied for guidance purposes: -

Electrical installations
(As outlined in 17th Edition I.E.E. regulations)

Type of Installation	Maximum period between inspections
Domestic Commercial Industrial Churches (over 5 years old) Places of public entertainment Petroleum stations Emergency lighting & Fire alarms	10 years rental on change of tenancy 5 years 3 years 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year Note the word MAXIMUM

Call us today for your piece of mind get it done professionally visit our website www.safe-electric.com and sleep soundly at night knowing you have done your best to make sure you employees and tenants are safe.

Part P, the true cost to the electrical industry

Part P.

When this first came out, like most electricians we hoped it would constitute a level playing field and remove the Cowboys from the industry.

Unfortunately, all it has done is undermining the very industry that most time served electricians loved and valued.

1. It now takes, six weeks to be qualified as an electrician! 
2. Time served electricians like myself who spent 5 years learning, and in my case was not even allowed to install electrical cable's till I understood construction, bricklaying, plastering, carpentry, plumbing, and a whole host of other trade related items to ensure that I could repair the damage I caused when installing.
3. Children can pass exams, but have no practical experience; an example of this, was an 18-year-old young man who asked to join my company as an electrical tester having passed his 2391 – 10, and technically was now competent  to test, so I showed him a board, I have which has various cable types clipped to it with the name hidden by Velcro tab, and asked him to name each one, the only two he could name were armoured, and he couldn't tell the difference between SWA and XLPE and Twin and Earth.

         He had no idea, of the other types of cable on the board.

Here's a short list of just a few of them: space-

1. VIR
2. Rubber
3. lead
4. Pyro
5. FP 200  
6. HORF

Faced with, the government requirement to reduce the number of unemployed people with promises of £50,000 a year for electricians,  their part P qualifications allowing them to do electrical work, in a domestic situation only!

Even this has its problems the basic part P, only allows you to carry out work in a kitchen, bathroom, and conservatory or garden, you need the extension to carry out the work, in the rest of the house.

So the general public, being ignorant of the actual qualifications assume all part P qualified electricians are capable of doing everything, (so much for the advertising).

In general, anyone that has passed a qualification such as part P, or 2391 – 10 is deemed to be competent.

Furthermore, most of these so-called qualified inexperienced people, who don't have public liability insurance efficacy insurance, are not members of publicly recognised trade bodies, such as the NICEIC, don't have proper offices, only have mobile phone numbers and therefore only have very small overheads, have been under-pricing work at such a ridiculously dangerous level, they are in my opinion putting at risk the lives of the general public.

I was called in to test and inspect a property that had been rewired by a part P engineer, who the homeowner could no longer find, after a little research, I found that the person was not registered the homeowner had not checked if they were a member of a competent body and in fact they had disappeared out of the country!

I found 6 x C1 items, 8 x C2 items, and 12 x C3 items; on a brand-new installation, was he qualified YES according to the government he did his six-week course and was a qualified electrician!? did he care about the people in the house NO, did he care about their safety, obviously not, can he now be found No he has disappeared back to Poland, NO is he accountable NO, what can the householder do nothing, except get it put right, at their expense.

But he was cheap!

I have long been an advocate, for the IEE regulations, to be made LAW.

As per usual, the gut reaction of government, has been to Institute a system, that at first appears to be a good idea, it will reduce the number of cowboys in the industry, unfortunately all it has done is instigate a false premise, massively reduced truly competent contractors and instigated a full sense of security to homeowners, but these installers are cheap!

Why is it, that GAS is, is a legal requirement, but electricity is only a recommendation?

Which allows lawyers, fly by night contractors, unqualified individuals, to do what they like; in fact a road sweeper can become an electrician within a day, just by saying he is, and there is nothing legally to say he can't.

Cost-cutting in our industry, has now gone so far that most bona-fide contractors, who carry the overheads and requirements of updating, upgrading, new exams, new certificates, new books and everything else that that entails, can no longer do the work for the prices that the large FM companies insist they can be done for, let alone work for wages, or even less than wages, with their overhead costs

Many clients are now lulled into a false Sense of security, and the paperwork to be honest having seen many of these documents in the past six months, might just as well be used for toilet paper.

They won't stand up in a court of law, insurance companies will not cover you, and they have been a number of cases recently where electrical fires have occurred, and because the paperwork is not up-to-date and in fact is onerous to say the least, they refused to pay out! (And you thought you were insured).

Don't be deluded by cheap prices, reduce costs so-called qualified engineers, cheap testing companies, because the reality is, when it goes wrong, which there are thousands of these occasions every year, you will not be insured, you will lose your home, you will lose your livelihood and you will be put in prison, there are a number of people that already have, with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of fines, which the un-insured cannot meet, and therefore lose every asset they have!

I see these comments, and many others all over the Internet, yet as per usual the government take no notice, they were fast enough to instigate part P, when an MPs daughter got electrocuted, fast enough to instigate separate governing bodies, who are supposed to be our voice, yet when you asked to speak to the person in charge or talk to the MP they're not interested in listing, you are not big enough, in fact they don't care.

Yet they constantly fall short of making it law, but they make a lot of money, out of the numerous plethora of courses, that take weeks to qualify people to carry out dangerous installations within homes commercial premises and even factories, not the years of installation and practice under supervised experienced engineers that now the minority of contractors have.

Personally for me, one life is far too precious to lose, let alone the number of people that have been electrocuted due to bad DIY, poor installation work and Fred the guys read the DIY book that shows you how to install it, but has no practical experience whatsoever.

For further information please visit our website at: -  www.safe-electric.com

Confusion exposes millions to serious electrical dangers

29 February 2012

As the number of people becoming landlords soars, and 13% of UK adults are considering leasing out a property in the near future¹, new research from the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) has found that some misunderstandings between landlords and tenants over responsibilities for safety are in fact exposing millions of people to electrical dangers.

Electricity kills at least one person every week in the home and almost 1,000 are seriously injured every day. Electricity causes around 20,0002 fires a year; almost half of all accidental UK house fires. The ESC has found that of all the people receiving an electric shock3, private tenants are disproportionately affected; 16% of the UK population living in private rented properties4 accounting for 20% of UK adults receiving an electric shock.

The ESC is concerned that the rise in inexperienced landlords – many of whom are finding it easier to rent out their property than sell it – will further compromise safety. More than one fifth of all private tenants (21%) already report concerns with the electrical safety in their home and three quarters of private tenants (75%) can’t recall discussing electrical safety with their landlord5.

The ESC’s research also found that landlords and tenants are confused about their responsibilities whereby three in ten landlords and two-fifths of renters do not know who is responsible for electrical safety in their rented properties (29% and 40% respectively).

By law, landlords must ensure electrical installations and wiring are maintained in a safe condition throughout the tenancy6. Tenants should feel obliged to flag electrical problems as soon as they appear, as well as maintain any electrical items they bring into the house. The consequences for not understanding obligations can be serious. If a landlord is found to be negligent over electrical safety it can lead to prosecution, with a fine of up to £5,000 on each count, or even imprisonment. This may come as a shock to the 38% of landlords who don’t believe there are any penalties for failing to maintain safety.

In response to the statistics, the ESC has produced a simple guide for landlords outlining how to ensure the electrical safety of a property, available free at: www.esc.org.uk/landlords.

One of the key recommendations is that landlords should download the ESC’s free Home Electrical Safety Checks Smartphone app, which allows anyone to do a quick visual check to ensure a property is electrically safe. The app highlights potential dangers in each room and explains how to resolve simple problems or where they should be flagged to an electrician. The app can also be used by tenants to flag issues to landlords with confidence. Whilst no legislation exists for tenants relating to electrical safety, if they are complacent to the issues it could result in a serious injury or death.

Anneke Rousseau, Head of Communications at ESC, said: “It is important that all landlords understand their obligations and ensure the safety of their tenants. Part of the confusion may arise from the fact that landlords are legally responsible for an annual gas safety check but it is not a legal requirement for electrical safety. And so we are encouraging landlords and tenants to start talking more openly with each other about this vital safety issue.”

The ESC is also calling on landlords to ensure that there is adequate RCD protection in all of their properties as just under half of UK households (49%) have adequate RCD protection and the number drops to just 30% for private tenants.

A Residual Current Device (RCD) is a life-saving device that protects against dangerous electric shock and reduces the risk of electrical fires. Plug-in RCDs should be used if there is no RCD in the fusebox.

Richard Price, Director of Operations, National Landlords Association, said: “Landlords have an obligation to provide safe accommodation and compliance with electrical safety regulations helps to achieve that. The NLA welcomes these guidelines from the Electrical Safety Council, spelling out how landlords can make their properties safe for tenants and reduce electrical accidents. Tenants also need to be encouraged not to alter the installation, and to raise any safety issues with their landlord immediately, so they can be addressed as promptly as possible.”

[1] 13% replied ‘yes’ to ‘Are you planning on renting out a property to tenants now or in the near future?’

[2] CLG fire statistics 2007

[3] 2.5 million people receive a mains voltage electric shock every year (MORI 2011)

[4] English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Housing Surveys

[5] When asked ‘Thinking again about your last privately rented accommodation to what extent did you ever discuss electrical safety with your landlord for this property when you moved in?’, 56% of renters answered ‘Electrical safety was not discussed’ and a further 19% answered ‘Don’t know / can’t remember’.

[6] The Landlords and Tenants Act 1985. Further guidance in the Housing and Tenants Act 2004

Courtesy of the Electrical Products Newsletter 5th April.

For Piece of mind contact us at www.safe-electric.com for your testing and remedial works.

The Energy Act 2011 paves the way for secondary legislation making it unlawful from April 2018 to rent out a house or business premises which has less than an “E” energy efficiency rating. That would affect approximately 18% of all buildings with Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). Dealing with the cost of statutory compliance, and improving poorly-rated buildings, is a challenge for both landlords and tenants. What does this have to do with Electrical testing or maintenance you may ask, well if you get caught on the hop and leave it till the last minuet then you may no longer have a building or home you can rent. Let us look at the lighting, ventilation and A/C within you properties and advise you on a course of Income protection, Carbon emission reduction and energy efficiency, that in the long run can assist you in getting your infrastructure right before it is to late. Putting off today what seems to be sometime in the futures problem can end up being the root cause of your downfall in the Future. Contact us today http://bit.ly/ruNULe We are not just about testing we are about future sustainability for all of our clients. Contact www.safe-electric.com

NICEIC Launch MOT your Home Campaign with Linda Barker

New Campaign

New research has revealed that homeowners are risking their lives by not getting their electrics fully checked, leaving potentially deadly faults lurking in thousands of homes.

Our survey revealed that nearly nine out of ten (89%) homeowners don’t really think about getting their electrics fully tested, with eighty eight percent (88%) confessing that getting their gas boiler checked is more important to them. Over a third (32%) admitted they have never had the electrics in their home fully tested.

That’s why NICEIC has launched ‘MOT Your Home’, a national consumer safety campaign warning homeowners about the dangers of electrical DIY. Fronted by home-improvement expert, Linda Barker, the new campaign encourages homeowners whose property is over 10 years old to employ a registered electrician to carry out a Periodic Inspection Report, which acts like an MOT for the property.

Linda Barker, NICEIC spokesperson, says: “I’ve teamed up with the NICEIC to encourage consumers to get their homes checked and make electrical safety a top priority. Even though it’s tempting to try and save a few pennies where possible at the moment, a simple home MOT could save lives. To help homeowners ensure optimum electrical safety in their home I’ve put together some simple tips and advice to protect families and homes from electrical fire risks.”

For further information go to our web Site: - www.safe-electric.com or contact us by e-mail Enquiries@safe-electric.com

Shopkeepers beware

In these recession hit times, the easiest thing to cut corners on is safety, there is a legal requirement to ensure the safety of your employees and the safety of the public, who use your premises.

Most large organisations already have in place the necessary structures to ensure compliance with Health and safety, the electricity at works act and with the building regulations.

However sadly the excuse used by a small trader of not knowing he had to, did not wash with the Judge, in a recent case, and to quote the English law maxim ( ignorance of the law is no excuse) end quote.

A member of the public came into his shop and got a shock from a piece of equipment within the premises, and reported it to the local council, after the shopkeeper denied there was anything wrong.

Upon investigation by the council they found that the main earth in the premises was not connected, and that the supplemental earthing and one of the main earth's were also not properly connected.

Furthermore, upon requesting a copy of his current periodic test certificate for the fixed wiring within the premises the shop keeper said he did not have to have one there was no law the make him do it.

They then asked for a copy of his PAT testing certification for all of the appliances within the property, to which he replied that he did not have any certificate and had never heard of it.

There answer was to issue an order to, tell him to get it rectified and another order to shut the shop until such time as the owner had done so, and rectified any faults already identified and any that may come to light during the inspection.

He refused to do so and promptly re-opened the shop a few days later without the works being carried out.

A closure notice was issued and the shop had to re-shut, the owner went shopping around to get the cheapest price for a test cert, only to get somebody with no real experience or knowledge of this type of system. ( again trying to cut corners)

Consequently, the information supplied was sub-standard and the owner tried to get away with it, to no avail, the judge passed a 2 year suspended sentence on the owner with a fine in excess of £40,000.00 plus costs, ( total bill for ignoring and trying to take the cheap way out was in excess of £55,000.00.

The owner had to sell the shop and is also banned from running a shop of this type again, this coupled with a suspended sentence, and the loss of his living for trying to save a few pounds, beggars belief, together with his total disregard for life.

The fact that he would endanger his employees, and the public to save the difference between a proper test and a cheap test is unconscionable.

The true cost of testing by a company that is not interested in getting the remedial works is between £15.00 and £20.00 per circuit depending on floor space, and also what information you already have to hand, he found somebody silly enough to do it for £6.00 per circuit, ( but it was cheap)there is always an idiot out there.

This contractor has now been closed down as well and fined in excess of £30,000.00.

He spent more on servicing his car twice a year, than protecting the life of his employees or the public.

You are legally obliged to carry out a periodic test of your electrical fixed wiring at a maximum time of five years between tests "this is the law"

Don't be foolish and put peoples lives at risk, call us today, and get the job done properly and safely, cutting corners is not an option, this man ruined his life so save a few pounds, safety is not an afterthought it is a necessity.

You are not insured without a proper certificate the insurance companies will not pay out to cover you if you do not in the eyes of the law act professionally.

For further information go to our web Site: - www. safe-electric.com  or contact us by e-mail Enquiries@safe-electric.com

Letting agents beware

So you rent out property on behalf of a landlord, and you think your safe from prosecution WRONG.

Corporate manslaughter is reality, not fiction, a recent case of a letting agent who rented out 30 properties for one landlord who refused to get a FULL electrical test and inspection done on his properties.

The ruling was the Landlord was guilty for not carrying out his due diligence and protecting the safety of his tenants by not getting a FULL electrical inspection carried out on his properties; he was fined £,750,000.00 and given a 2 year prison sentence.

What has this got to do with letting agents! As far as the Judge was concerned, the letting agent had a duty of care to the tenant, to ensure the property he was letting was safe, and that all measures had been carried out by the landlord to ensure this had been done, before letting the property.

The letting agent was fined £100,000.00 and given a 1 year suspended sentence, his defence was, I did not know! the Judges answer, ignorance of the law is no excuse, you had a duty to protect the tenants and as far as possible ensure there safety, by letting the landlord refuse to carry out a full Electrical test by an approved body you failed in that duty of care, you put money before safety that is unacceptable.

His insurance will not pay out to cover him as he did not in the eyes of the law act professionally.

For further information go to our web Site: - www. safe-electric.com  or contact us by e-mail Enquiries@safe-electric.com