The following story takes place in Great Britain at the dawn of the third decade of the 21st century
the land of modern urban environments,
breath taking wild nature habitats,
peace, order and friendly neighbours.
The island so well known for its vast living spaces,
exquisite tastes and solid finish,
and cutting edge technologies every step of the way.
English statistics from before the Brexit suggest
that over 107% of all the new constructions (source: Royal Institute For Tugging of Lower Extremities 2019/2020)
and nearly 11 in 10 refurbishments of the existing houses and flats each year
are performed by Polish builders and crews settled in UK
If you are one of our very countrymen
tasked with restoring Ye Olde British Empire brick by brick
tile by tile and socket after socket.
then for the next several episodes we'll talk about what all of us should know
about electrical and building regulations in this country.
We'll share tall tales of the creative craftsmanship encountered at work
and discuss which of the local habits one should never try to pick up
but also how to avoid imposing our own annoying routines on locals.
Along the way I'll try to answer all the typical questions you may have
why are British plugs and bulbs are so different
what do Brits do with two taps in their bathrooms
what is going on with pullcords on the ceilings and walls
and why do they keep their washing machines in the kitchen.
I'll share my experience of a Pole living on this island for nearly three decades,
running my own company and working as a registered electrician and electrical inspector.
and every now and them I'll try to invite someone else to help me answer all your questions.
They call me Regan, and you're watching The Resistance channel, I'll see you right after this:
The Resistance presents: Polish Electrician in UK, episode 1, Traditions, Regulations and Laws
Welcome again to the first episode in series about working as an electrician in UK
To begin this series on the right foot, we'll have to plow through the most boring subject of all:
how the building or electrical jobs you perform may be affected by laws and regulations in UK
We have to go through a lot material in a short time, and I know there are more interesting videos on YouTube
but do try to stay with me for the next dozen or so minutes as we're going to establish framework needed across all of the series.
The rules that English Electrician have to abide by
are divided into the following five sections:
The law
Building Regulations acting as a law
Electrical Regulations
other British Standards and manufacturer instructions
and local customs and traditions stemming from years of experience.
Allow me to start from the latter
Traditions in English Electrics
Simple example: no regulation at the moment prohibits you from fixing all the sockets upside down
or light switches to one side
but we mount them upright, because that's the tradition - this is The Way
Mandalorians: "This is The Way"
Everytime we get to discuss "rules" born of traditions and customs
you'll see this marker in the upper corner of the screen.
Other norms and manufacturer's instructions.
From time to time, other norms and British Standards take precedence over electrical regulations
This is a typical grade D smoke detector as found in millions of British homes
Detector is powered by a battery, but also requires mains feed at 230V
While electrical regulations treat such detector as "safety service" and require it "be independent of other circuits"
British Standard to do with Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems For Buildings
insist it can be powered from "a separately electrically protected, regularly used local lighting circuit"
with a reasonable limitation that it won't switch off together with a lighting circuit.
In this instance fire detection regulations win over electrical regulations
Similarly, manufacturer instructions "shall be taken account of" as long as it doesn't create any negative impact on the rest of the installation
Electrical Regulations
Electrical Regulations in UK are encompassed in the volume of work known as
"Requirements for Electrical Installations, IET Wiring Regulations"
The story behind this published work goes back all the way to 1882
and after many revisions, around the mid nineties of the last century
the document became British Standard number 7671, or BS7671 in short
And that is exactly how you should remember it - as a national standard
The regulations are revised all the time and published roughly every three years.
Small additions to the regulations are known as Amendments
Whereas major changes are known as Editions
Each Edition sports a new colour coded cover
And at present, while this very video in being made in mid 2020
all electrical work must comply with 18th Edition of regulations after the first amendment
and the cover is blue.
"Requirements for Electrical Installations" are priced by the publisher through the roof
probably to make sure it doesn't become too popular.
Those that had to read through it as a compulsory material
often complain that the plot is fascinating like a telephone book
and the language flows from the pages akin to Law Journals
This is probably why the market created dozen or so summaries
offered as cheat sheets and picture story books.
And although we could joke like this for a good few minutes you should be aware
that in reality BS7671 is the abc's, bible and shield of every electrician
and you won't find a person in UK legally performing electrical maintenance tasks
without in-depth knowledge of every new edition of this book, often confirmed by the appropriate diplomas.
Every time we get to discuss Electrical Regulation in the future, it'll be marked by a logo like this one in the upper corner
Building Regulations
Building Regulations in UK are divided into several volumes, each with assigned unique letter
And Electrical Building Regulations can be found under letter P, so called Part P
entitled "Electrical Safety in Domestic Premises"
Beside Part P, electrician should also be aware of selected excerpts of other building regulations:
approved document B related to fire safety
approved document F related to requirements for ventilation equipment
documents from part L, regarding energy saving
or approved document M, talking about heights of accessories taking accessibility into account
In 2005 the government decided that all new electrical wiring in dwellings across England and Wales
regardless of weather undertaken by professional or amateur
must comply with Building Regulations in Part P
and as an extension of it, also comply with electrical regulations
to ensure safety of the tenants and preventing fire risks
Also the owner of the property must ensure the work done by hired third parties fully complies with Building Regulations
under penalty of fines and demolition of the non-conforming projects
To ensure the regulations are abide by, if any of the work you perform across England and Wales require:
(as per screen)
then all such works must be notified to Local Authority Building Control
together with appropriate certification from a person described in regulations as "competent"
Based on that, Building Control will issue certificate of compliance to the owner of the property.
In case of Wales, notifiable jobs additionally extend to:
All right, but what does that mean: "by a competent person"?
Could Mrs.Grażyna's father, visiting from Poland
a man of vast experience and a registered electrician in his native land
undertake, for example, a change of consumer unit in her home?
My answer as an registered electrician in UK is:
theoretically...
However, it doesn't quite matter if his skills are well spoken of in the native land
and it doesn't matter that it wouldn't be very hard to vastly improve on that shoddy fuse box currently hanging off the wall
The regulations state that the work must comply fully with British regulations
and be the bees knees in line with the local requirements and practices.
And it's not a matter of knowledge and experience in Poland
as unawareness and lack of experience of local regulations
Despite absolute noise and disinformation across the internet
the law behind Building Regulations
does not state that the person performing electrical tasks must be a member of a special body or organisation
Competent persons in light of the law must have a knowledge of British regulations
and perform their job according to those regulations and then confirm the compliance in the following three ways:
- First method: pass the exams and become a registered competent person
to simplify - imagine organisations within CPS as "guilds"
"guild of electricians", "guild of gas fitters" etc
membership in such "guild", due to introductory requirements
makes you fully fledged domestic installer with ability to self certify your own jobs
and notifying building control, through an interface set up by the "guild".
Second method - the installation can be supervised and then tested, certified and submitted by a registered third party certifier with membership in a "guild"
And the third method:
By voluntarily notifing building control prior to the start of the work
and requesting a paid inspection from building control body to verify and certify the installation.
That said however, the chances of a person with experience only in Poland fulfilling all the requirement of local regulations
without actual knowledge of those regulations - are very low.
All right, but how does that affect a building crew working at Mrs.Grażyna's kitchen extension
complete with induction hob and new circuits
if all of them agreed not to notify anyone and never to speak of it to authorities?
Skipping notifications to building control creates a lot complications
If the building work (regardless of electrical tasks) required planning permission
and has to be signed off by building inspector, then he will require paperwork regarding electrics as well
Secondly - the rules of expiry on unlawful constructions take 10 years to come into effect
The chances of building an unlawful extension or loft conversion
and local authorities not becoming aware of it for 10 years is extremely low
Chances of remortgaging a property that suddenly grew by tens of square meters without any paperwork
are questionable too
Chances of selling such house, when solicitors dig for months through every paper all the way back to 19th century
may become tricky
I don't fully understand such "savings".
It's worth knowing that Building Regulations are parliamentary act
and contravention against them is a criminal, not civil offence
And as such, simple change of downlighters by a crew painting swimming pool in the garden
or this little gem perpetrated by a tiler in the shower cabin
may, quite literally be described as a crime
To add some salt to this wound for construction crews that "do everything including electrics"
is a fact that after long preparations, under pressure from fire legislators
and ever increasing number of (not neccessarily created by Polish builders) shoddy workmanship
in January this year the Government began to introduce "The Electrical Safety Standards in The Private Rented Sector Act 2020"
and despite COVID-19 quarantine
from the 1st of July 2020 all the new rentals will have to be accompanied by Electrical Installation Condition Reports
and then, renew the certificate at least once every 5 years
It's worth noting that this is not some random move
The biggest British drama related to the dwellings in this century
the fire at Grenfell Tower high rise building
was an electrical fire started by a fridge in the kitchen
Realistically, the legislation means that even if the refurbishing crew acted in good faith
but due to lack of knowledge did not comply with building or electrical regulations
then at some point between July 2020 and April 2021
an electrician inspecting the property will find it in the ceiling, behind the kitchen furniture or under the floor
and raise the alarm.
Meanwhile any landlords avoiding compliance and certification
if reported by tenant or agency may face fines of up to £30,000
Every time we'll discuss issues surrounding Building Regulations this is the logo you'll see on the screen
And finally.. the law
Beside Building Regulations that act as a law
among statutory documents we focus mainly on one, single regulation
This document, written by Health & Safety executives can be described in one sentence
While working with electricity, you shall not pose danger to yourself and, more importantly
you shall not pose danger to others.
If you were to remember but one thing from my lengthily rumblings - that's the one you should memorise
I know it was long, I know it was boring
but the highlights of everything you've just slept through are:
if you're in a business of building, refurbishing, fixing and adjusting anything electrical in domestic properties as a side job
then you must know regulations in the current version of BS7671, or at least those that apply to your area of work
(fork me - I think the video rewound itself back to the beginning)
Every person leading a building crew MUST know Building Regulations
The documents are relatively short, they are free, and the links to them are description below
Lack of knowledge and good intentions are not a valid excuse in Great Britain
If you are making changes in real homes inhabited by real people
then you must know everything about the things you do
You have to be the best and if not you, then who?
I thank you all for patience
and listen... this is a new channel, you have to help me grow it
Do subscribe, do press thumbs up, do ring that stupid bell
ask me anything, I read all the comments and will try to answer everything I can
I'll see you next time in a tight space under the stairs and downstairs in a basement
cut outs, cables, meters, fuse boxes
what's what, what's different and what even electricians are not allowed to touch