Electricians And Regulations

By Author: Carolyn Clayton
Total Articles: 174
Comment this article

An electrician is a tradesman who specialises in the electrical wiring of buildings and related equipment. An electrician may be employed for the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure.

When electrical work needs to be carried out within your home it is important that you hire a professional to do it as electrical work that is installed unprofessionally could end up being dangerous and you and your home could be what ends up suffering as a result of it. This is why you should use the help of an electrician to do any wiring or electrical work that needs to be carried out.

The UK standards and regulations no longer differ substantially from those seen in other European countries. However a number of traditions associated with domestic electrical wiring in the UK still differ significantly from other countries including ring circuits, fused plugs, switch sockets, absence of normal switches and sockets in bathrooms, historic wiring colours and asymmetric supply-voltage tolerances.

Within the UK all electrical work that needs to be carried ...
... out within a domestic setting must comply with the British Standard 7671. Although this regulation is classed as being older now it is a legal enforceability and a requirement of the Part P building regulations in England and Wales, which were introduced on January 1st 2005.

Some of the changes to restrictions that were set out in the new Part P aspect of the building regulations were seen as being controversial as under the new regulations, the undertaking of any work other than simple changes such as changing a light switch became notifiable to the local building control authority; so work such as any work in a kitchen or bathroom or work in other areas that are being re-wired will require a professional body, i.e. a trained electrician, to carry them out.

To coincide with the new regulations, the Government approved several professional bodies to award ‘competent persons' status to individuals, which allows them to self-certify any work which they carry out. The building control authority must be informed of any notifiable work carried out by someone not qualified under this scheme before it is started (unless it is an emergency) and must subsequently be approved by them. Originally, it was widely understood that inspection by a qualified person (leading to authority approval) must be organised and paid for by the home-owner or person responsible for the site, which has caused some considerable criticism.

If you need any electrical work to be carried out on your home or property then get in touch with a registered trades person so that your work is carried out by an approved and trained electrician who can provide you with the needed certification stating that your electrical work, such as the re-wiring of a room or the re-wiring of your entire home or property was carried out in accordance to the specifications set out by the Part P regulations, leaving your home or property safe.