Say goodbye to inexperienced electricians

A recent article was posted on the BBC website, talking about how they are upping the requirements for an electrician to be allowed to do work on somebody’s home without them endangering the home-owner and their family. Rules in England state that people deemed “competent” by industry bodies can sign off work as safe and legal. But the Communities and Local Government Committee said some had only a few weeks’ training and called enforcement of rules “at best patchy”. The government said it would consider the findings “carefully”. In 2005, the Labour government brought most electrical work in the home under the system of building regulations, designed to ensure safety standards.

The reasons behind this are that there are many electricians whose only qualifications and experience is an electricians five week course and these people shouldn’t be allowed to work on somebody’s home unattended, because they aren’t fully experienced in working with electrical wiring and appliances. An MP called Clive Betts had the following to say: “Somebody whose only electrical qualification is that they have attended a five-week training course simply should not be re-wiring houses”.

In some cases, the MPs were told, people stood “as much chance of getting a competent person as asking a bloke down the pub to do the job”. The committee received evidence that some workers had done no more than take a “two-hour open book exam” before carrying out domestic electrical work, while others had taken internet-advertised “five-week wonder” courses. Added to this, only 14% of the population were even aware of the system, fewer than a third of the number who knew about a similar scheme for gas fitters.

The committee recommended that, within five years, no-one should be allowed to carry out the electrical work covered by building regulations without an NVQ Level III or equivalent qualification and “a significant period of supervised on-the-job training”.

This sounds like a good enough answer to make sure that only fully trained, experienced and qualified electricians can do work on people’s homes, thus lowering the chance of danger to the home-owners. You can read the full article here

 

If you are interested in what we at Red Elec Widnes can do for you, or you would like to hear about our services, then please contact us today.

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