I must admit some consumer units and electric meters do seem to be in inappropriate places. Either very high up, I need a set of steps to view my meter, or where crawling children could get access, parents house it was under the stairs, with the old fuse, I was unlikely as a toddler going to turn anything off, but with MCB or RCBO populated I can see they could be played with, daughters first house there was no door to under stairs area, and in living room.
The main problem is how can you allow disabled access but not access to children? This is not limited to electrics, and also where are the rules or laws which say what is permitted? I can read BS 7671 and say there is nothing to say what ever, but is there some building or fire regulation which requires it?
I have never read the Part B, L and M law, only the official guide to the law, and I know in the guide it shows what access is required, and the problem is when one reads these documents it says things like "Grade A Category LD2 fire detection and alarm system as described in BS 5839-6" and I don't have BS 5839-6 to see what is required, so we get Chinese whispers, where some one has said at some point you must not have a socket closer than 2 meters to a sink, which may have been in the guide to 13th edition to wiring regulations, but has since been removed, and we think it is still the rules.
It is very easy to read an approved document and say "All dwellings should have a fire detection and alarm system" but one it says "should" not "must" and two the approved document is not law, but to say there is no such rule, one needs to know where the rule was found to start with, if I say in the approved document part B it says this, then one can look to confirm, but otherwise near impossible. And read BS 7671 and make a true statement "In the UK where the installation is supplied from a TN system, only a TN-S installation shall be installed." but as electricians we know that statement is found in the section on caravan sites, and is not valid for many other homes.
If on one of these shows they were to say to a tradesman he should have been a member of a scheme to have done the work, and he answered well no I used the LABC, they would simply not broadcast that interview.
