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Electrical Safety

Electrical installation work should only be carried out by someone who is competent. It’s easy to make an electrical circuit work – it’s far harder to make the circuit work safely.

What is Part P and Do I Need To Use A Part-P Contractor?​

Part P is one of the Parts of the Building Regulations and relates to the Electrical Safety Regulations. It came into effect on the 1st January 2005 and places a legal requirement upon persons carrying out electrical installation work in dwellings. For most electrical installation works you will need a Part P approved contractor to comply with Electrical Safety Regulations.

Most accidents in the home are due to electrical faults, misuse of equipment and overloaded circuits. But there are still a high number of accidents that are caused by poor “cowboy” workmanship or DIYers.

This is why Part-P was introduced  to make harder for “cowboy” traders to undertake the electrical installations and why householders should always use a registered contractor. Part-P aim is to reduce the number of deaths, injuries and fires caused by faulty electrical installations. It also introduced self-certification schemes such as NICEIC who have assessed me – Andrejs Fribuss, as a “competent person” to the highest industry standards.

I’m proud to be registered and you can found me on the Registered Competent Person Electrical website. All full scope of Part P registered Electricians in England and Wales can be found at www.competentperson.co.uk, and it’s made easier than ever before.

As a property owner you should be aware of your legal responsibilities when having any electrical work completed within your house and it’s adjacent buildings or the land. To meet these responsibilities under the Building Regulations certain works (known as notifiable works) has to be notified to your local authority Building Control department. Failure to do so could land you in a lot of trouble as you can be prosecuted and could face a fine of up to £5,000.00. If the work is not up to the current standard you legally will have to put it right at an additional cost (to you).

Examples of Notifiable Work:

  • House rewire and new circuits

  • Work returning to the consumer unit

  • Work done in a bathroom

  • Work done outside the fabric of the house ( permanent garden lights, power to sheds and remote garages)

  • Ceiling or under floor heating

  • Electrics in or near swimming pools, saunas and spas

Using me as your electrical contractor means that all work will be carried out by a trusted and competent professional electrician and to the current standards. By choosing me as your electrician you can be assured that I will notify the relevant local authority on your behalf when the work is completed.

How it works:

Work completed and full payment made to Smart Sparx Electrical Services Ltd.
You will then receive an Electrical Installation Certificate by email from me. You need to keep this document.

I then notify NICEIC of the work completed, when and where it was done.  

NICEIC then notify the local authority and send you a Building Compliance Certificate. You will need to keep this Certificate for a later date for example: when selling your house.

RCDs explained

An RCD, or residual current device, is a life-saving device which is designed to prevent you from getting a fatal electric shock if you touch something live, such as a bare wire. It can also provide some protection against electrical fires. RCDs offer a level of personal protection that ordinary fuses and circuit-breakers cannot provide.

What does an RCD do?

An RCD is a sensitive safety device that switches off electricity automatically if there is a fault.

An RCD is designed to protect against the risks of electrocution and fire caused by earth faults. For example, if you cut through the cable when mowing the lawn and accidentally touched the exposed live wires or a faulty appliance overheats causing electric current to flow to earth.

How does it work?

An RCD constantly monitors the electric current flowing through one or more circuits it is used to protect. If it detects electricity flowing down an unintended path, such as through a person who has touched a live part, the RCD will switch the circuit off very quickly, significantly reducing the risk of death or serious injury.

What are the main types of RCD?

RCDs can help protect you from electric shock in potentially dangerous areas like bathrooms and gardens, and there are various types of RCDs that can be used to make sure you are always as safe as possible.

Fixed RCDs

These are installed in the consumer unit (fusebox) and can provide protection to individual or groups of circuits. A fixed RCD provides the highest level of protection as it protects all the wiring and the sockets on a circuit, and any connected appliances.

Socket-Outlet RCDs

These are special socket-outlets with an RCD built into them which can be used in place of a standard socket-outlet. This type of RCD provides protection only to the person in contact with equipment, including its lead, plugged into the special socket-outlet.

Portable RCDs

These plug into any standard socket-outlet. An appliance can then be plugged into the RCD. They are useful when neither fixed nor socket-outlet RCDs are available but, as with socket-outlet RCDs, they provide protection only to the person in contact with the equipment, including its lead, plugged into the portable RCD.

Are RCDs reliable?

We’ve found that fixed RCDs are about 97% reliable. This improves if they are tested regularly. If you have fixed RCD protection, it will reduce the risk of electric shock to you and your family. It can also protect your home against the risk of fire caused by faulty wiring or appliances.

Remember – Although RCD protection reduces the risk of death or injury from electric shock it does not reduce the need to be careful. Have your wiring checked at least once every 10 years to ensure the safety of you, your family and your home. If you find a fault with your wiring, or an appliance, stop using it immediately and contact me.

Don’t forget to test – You should test all fixed and socket RCDs about every three months. Manufacturers recommend that portable RCDs are tested every time you use them.

Beware – If you hold the test button in for a long time and the RCD does not switch off the electricity supply, then get advice from a  registered electrician.

The UK standard for safety – Since July 2008 virtually all circuits in new or rewired homes have been required to include an RCD under the latest edition of BS 7671.

How do I check whether I already have fixed RCD protection?

To check if you have fixed RCD protection, go to your consumer unit and have a look to see if there is a device with a pushbutton marked ‘T’ or ‘Test’. This ‘test’ button is part of an RCD. If an RCD is fitted, there should also be a label on or near the consumer unit stating ‘test quarterly’.

Do I have to have SPDs installed

The current edition of the IET Wiring Regulations, BS 7671:2018, states that unless a risk assessment is carried out, protection against transient overvoltage shall be provided where the consequence caused by overvoltage could:

  • Result in serious injury to, or loss of, human life; or

  • Result in interruption of public services and/or damage to cultural heritage; or

  • Result in interruption of commercial or industrial activity; or

  • Affect a large number of co-located individuals.

This regulation applies to all types of premises which include domestic, commercial and industrial.

In the previous edition of the IET Wiring Regulations, BS 7671:2008+A3:2015, there was an exception for some domestic dwellings to be excluded from surge protection requirements, for example, if supplied with an underground cable, but this has now been removed and it is now a requirement for all types of premises including single dwelling units. This applies to all new build and properties being rewired.

Whilst the IET Wiring Regulations are not retrospective, where work is being carried out on an existing circuit within an installation which has been designed and installed to a previous edition of the IET Wiring Regulations, it is necessary to ensure the modified circuit complies with the latest edition, this will only be beneficial if SPDs are installed to protect the whole installation.

The decision on whether to purchase SPDs is in the hands of the customer, but they should be provided with enough information to make an informed decision on whether they wish to omit SPDs. A decision should be made based on safety risk factors and following a cost evaluation of SPDs, which may cost as little as a few hundred pounds, against the cost of the electrical installation and equipment connected to it such as computers, TVs and necessary equipment, for example, smoke detection and boiler controls.

Surge protection could be installed in an existing consumer unit if appropriate physical space was available or, if enough space was not available, it could be installed in an external enclosure adjacent to the existing consumer unit.

It is also worth checking with your insurance company as some policies may state that equipment must be covered with an SPD or they will not payout in the event of a claim.