Handymac wrote:
Government ministers have been pressed on this issue time and again, and they hide behind the convenient excuse that it is necessary to combat the loss of life and serious injury that has incurred through cowboy electrical work being carried out. On the face of it that is an excellent justification which we would all wish to support. This loss of life must be an exceptionally serious situation to gain the attention of ministers right up to the level of deputy prime minister. There are huge amounts of taxpayers money being spent on advertising on radio and other popular media - for what benefit?
The question that needs to be asked is - is the loss of life really such a big issue to take up so much time and money? When was the last time that you remember reading about people being electrocuted in their own homes due to a deviant electrical installation (not including accidents involving plugged-in appliances which are not covered by Part P)? Compare that with the number of lives lost in serious rail crashes in recent years - since 1997 there has been a recorded 58 losses of life in serious train crashes (and no doubt several more individual accidents which went unreported in the general media). And it is a fact that there are far more people using electricity in their homes daily than there are travelling on trains. So where is the government advertising that you shouldn't use a train because of the serious risk to life?
If you investigate the subject of electrical fatalities in more depth you discover (using official figures issued on the web site of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) that there are in the region of 40 electrical fatalities per year in the UK. And of those electrical fatalities and major incidents, a significant portion are appliance related - for example consumers who run over the electrical cable when cutting the grass with their mower, or badly fitted plugs on old equipment. Those fatalities will still occur regardless of Part P, it isn't a panacea to stop people acting dangerously when using electrical equipment.
Part P specifically excludes apparatus and appliances which are connected to the electrical supply. The legislation applies only to the electrical infrastructure of the premises - anything plugged into a wall socket doesn't count.
So in actual fact, using the governments own official figures, this legislation is specifically designed to save 4-6 lives per year. And that's all. There are more lives lost over a period of time catching a train to work. Furthermore, if the fatalities were properly recorded (for example a fatality involving someone running over their electric lawnmower cable could be recorded as an electrical death and be one of the 4-6 lives) then it is quite possible that the number of actual fatalities each year which Part P is supposed to affect would approach zero.
Like everyone, I welcome the saving of even one life. But just consider for a moment how much money government have invested in getting Part P onto the statute book. The figure runs into many millions of pounds, and there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that even one life will be saved - in fact after the introduction of Part P it is more than likely that more lives will be lost when homeowners discover that they can no longer afford to have the job done properly by employing a qualified tradesperson. That work will still need to be done, so the hapless have-a-go hero will be forced to try and fix the installation themselves - and keep quiet about it.
