Calibration of secondhand test equipment

[oharaf]

His response was "Sounds like you'll be fine to issue the installation certificate, put all your professional experience in a letter when you submit your Building Notice.

For what it's worth, my LA said the same. "If you believe you are 'competent', then submit the EIC along with a covering letter justifying why you feel you are 'competent'..."

Right I will change my boiler and send a letter in stating why i think i'm competent.......................................................

 

[slup]

Let's say you are fully 'competent' but not a member of a 'competent persons scheme'.

By competent here, I mean perhaps educated to degree level in an electrical engineering subject and capable of reading and researching the correct way to undertake the work.

Are you seriously arguing that you shouldn't be able to do your own electrical work?

I think the few local authorities who take a pragmatic view on this should be applauded, not derided....

Paying some notional fee to an arbitrarily set up company so you can put their logo on your letterhead does not automatically turn you into a god?

 

[oharaf]

Exactly when did i claim to be the messiah???

Frig sake some of us jump through hoops to follow the rules and then someone who 'has read a book' gets encouraged to forge a head as competent!!!!

I have a degree in Mathematics but i didn't turn round and declare I am so qualified I must be competent to be an electrician, no, I put my hand in MY pocket and paid and studied a whole load more too get 2330, 2391 and 17th and register with a competency organisation.

 

[slup]

Another hypothetical one for you then:-

Let's say you are a qualified, highly experienced industrial electrician. You have every qualification under the sun, but are not registered with a competent persons scheme.

Would you rather the local authority said:-

1) No, you must get a Part-P registered electrician in
2) OK, but we'll test it and charge you £1000
3) That's fine, send the certificate in along with evidence of your competency

 

[JohnD]

Without wishing to be needlessly rude, going to university and reading some books does not make you a competent electrician, any more than it can make you a competent lover, or driver, or bricklayer, or car mechanic, or chiropodist, or shipwright, or brain surgeon.

I expect you have your own area of professional expertise, and you have had training, mentoring, experience, developed skills, and discovered things that you did not know about and would not have thought of. Do you think that electricianing is different?

 

[LiamPope]

Frig sake some of us jump through hoops to follow the rules and then someone who 'has read a book' gets encouraged to forge a head as competent!!!!

I have a degree in Mathematics but i didn't turn round and declare I am so qualified I must be competent to be an electrician, no, I put my hand in MY pocket and paid and studied a whole load more too get 2330, 2391 and 17th and register with a competency organisation.

Presumably so that you could become a professional electrician and charge people for your services? Good for you, but we're talking about DIYers here (in this DIY forum, heaven forbid ) working on their own houses. Do you really think the 'hoops you've jumped through' should be a requirement for anyone wishing to do any notifiable work in their home?! Do you really think an intelligent person cannot self-teach themselves enough to competently carry out some of the tasks of your profession, and that doing so should not be accommodated by LABCs?

What rules are you suggesting are not being followed by a DIYer who submits his building notice, carries out work to a high standard, then meets his LABC's requirements for obtaining a completion certificate?

Without wishing to be needlessly rude, going to university and reading some books does not make you a competent electrician, any more than it can make you a competent lover, or driver, or bricklayer, or car mechanic, or chiropodist, or shipwright, or brain surgeon.

I expect you have your own area of professional expertise, and you have had training, mentoring, experience, developed skills, and discovered things that you did not know about and would not have thought of. Do you think that electricianing is different?

Nobody's claiming the mere fact of doing a degree, or reading some books as you put it, makes them a competent electrician, are they? The point being made is that a reasonably intelligent person can, through a combination of fundamental education, self directed study, practical experience, etc, put themselves in a position where they can competently carry out certain electrical work, without being a 'qualified electrician'. Similarly, it's quite possible for an amateur DIYer to become perfectly competent at loving, driving, laying bricks, servicing their cars, er... shipwrighting(?), well... OK I might draw the line at DIY medical practice - not in principle though, but just because the idea is slightly ridiculous!

I would be the last person to call myself an electrician, and have every respect for pros who've worked hard for their qualifications. For any skilled professional in fact. The skills and knowledge you have gained in your career (assuming you are a spark and not just speaking on their behalf) are most probably incomparable to mine (though the same could not be said of all pro sparks, sadly). But my point still stands - it's perfectly possible for a DIYer to get themselves in a position to be able to competently carry out electrical work, whether that hurts your professional pride or not. As it is possible for anyone to teach themselves anything if they have the capacity and put their minds to it.

 

[JohnD]

I agree that the non-specialist can learn plenty, my point is that you can't reasonably claim to be a Competent Person on forms unless you are much more than you do from a university degree and a different sort of engineering job.