electrical certificates in Scotland

[llewop]

Iam looking for advise regarding the completion certificate in Scotland. Iam an approved electrician who recently started working for myself and have an up to date SJIB card also recently passed 17th edition and SELECT traing course for testing and inspection. I was been asked by a customer to sign off the electrical test certificate required from building control after recent building alterations she had done (builder had vanished after payment). I did not do any of the electrical work myself but completed a periodic inspection report after a full check off all electrics (all electrical work checked out ok). The form was submitted to the building control who said everything is ok with my completed form but have asked for the certificate to be stamped. This is the first time I have been asked for a stamp and to be honest I dont know what they mean by a stamp. I am going to meet building control at the house on Friday but was wanting to know before I meet them.

 

[Chri5]

By stamped do they mean that the EIC has to be a Select scheme members controlled certificate (as in it should have a serial number and be Select controlled)?

Or maybe they just want your official letterhead to append to it.

Scotland is a bit of a mystery to me. I understand that Edinburgh / East Lothian is a rigid Select zone and yet Glasgow still allows anyone to complete and sign an EIC.

 

[skenk]

You are meeting building control from which council?

Edinburgh and Ayr (i think) require certs to be completed by SELECT/NICEIC registered sparks only. Glasgow City Council don't. Don't know about any others. AFAIK if a building warrant isn't required (//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:building_warrants) then no certs are required - there is no requirement to work to 7671. (Could be wrong but i've taken that from the Scottish building regs ie SBSA Domestic and non-domestic handbooks, anyone else know more??)

The BC guy who came to mine (GCC) barely glanced at the certs, when I asked if it was all ok and didn't need to be SELECT/NICEIC (the only schemes currently available in Scotland) he said yes and checked the certs to make sure they WEREN'T SELECT/NICEIC branded. Got the completion cert a couple of days later. Mine was an EIC tho, not a periodic (did all the work and filled certs myself, am 16th edition qualified but not time served or sjib . . . )

No idea what they mean by wanting a 'stamp'. You could try calling BC and making a general enquiry but if its GCC good luck getting any useful information out of them, especially after 12 noon for some reason!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Edinburgh and Ayr (i think) require certs to be completed by SELECT/NICEIC registered sparks only. Glasgow City Council don't.

Which of these applies:

• The law allows councils flexibility in what they choose to do
• Edinburgh and Ayr are acting unlawfully by insisting on something that the law does not mandate
• Glasgow are being derelict in their duty

?

 

[skenk]

As far as i know when the SBSA appeared in 2004/5 there was supposed to be a method for the local BC to check DIYers work, not dissimilar to part P in England

See 'aims' here, esp. aim 4

http://www.sabsm.co.uk/publications/SBSA & SABSM Electrical Guidance 16-01-06 & revised 29-03-06.pdf

So i suppose Edinburgh and Ayr are possibly acting illegally by not providing their own verification scheme and I guess Glasgow are probably being derelict in their duty by not providing a robust enquiry system (as far as the BC guy who gave me my completion cert. goes, i could have copied my test results or made them up, i'm 99.9% sure nobody checked anything). Thats assuming the SBSA rules are statutory - i don't know . . .

It's a bit of a shambles really as to apply for a building warrant you have to submit 'existing' and 'proposed' drawings of the entire property even if you just want to, say, move or add a socket in a bedroom in a 3 storey house. Also, as i said above, if a warrant is not required (say, re-wiring a 2-storey house) then there is no requirement for certification (afaik).

And you thought part P was a dogs dinner!

 

[baldelectrician]

Things seem fine in Ayrshire (they require SELECT / NICEIC or similar). The Ayrshire councils have got their act together and are singing from the correct hymn sheet.

GCC are a law unto themselves. They have been inconsistent at best

 

[llewop]

Thanks for all your replies I have successfully resolved the above problem. Contacted building control in North Lanarkshire and all they needed from me was a photo copy of my SJIB grading card to make sure I was up to date. Could not reply earlier as the inspector went off work ill and knowbody would take on his jobs, so had to wait till he came back to work.