A certain top South coast Match angler

Bigh,

its not about being judged as being incompetent, just being up to current standard.
it is a pain but all these certification schemes will do the industry wonders. ensuring that all work that is carried out will be done to the correct standard.
 
i have many heating friends who have the same problem as you, and i find it hard how the powers to be can class trades persons with years of experince in the same class as a diy,er with none, in the same token someone straight out of college with very little practible experience but the correct exam qualifications is surposed to be competent....something we both encounter on a daily basis......but i must say i agree entirely with all ongoing training keeping us up to date with new products,proceedures and legislation in no matter what ever job any one does
 
In the line of work that I do I invigilate tests for the CITB (all aspects from General Site to Scaffolding to Demolition) and I have this conversation on a regular basis with Gentlemen of a certain age who do not feel it nessecary to have a current and vaild health and safety card...

One gentleman i spoke to recently said that although he knew that he had to do the test he felt that it was an insult that he had to do it, as he had forgotten more than what was in the book that he was given to revise from ....My reply as I gave him his result was...\"well unfortunately sir you had better read the book because I am afraid you failed your test\"

The look on his face was priceless and although I can sympathise with the man, at the same time I have to look at it in the sense that if he does not have a current and valid card he will not be able to work on site.... True that the man will know more than I would ever be able to learn from a book but the times they are a changing and we must keep up with them if we are to survive and not get our arses sued when something goes wrong.

[Edited on 14/1/2005 by Clare]

[Edited on 14/1/2005 by Clare]
 
A word of advice if you want to risk your life and your family then go for it but for the sake of a few quid you can be sure to wake up in the moring...........
bit harsh that, by that reckoning if we haven\'t done all the courses and have up to date cerificates for the latest regs we are a danger to ourselves. Yes there\'s a lot of stupid people out there, that try do things far beyond their capability. But I would suggest also there\'s a lot of \'tradesmen\' out there that aren\'t much better. Like I said before, you\'re not a time served mechanic but you\'ll work on a car.

my problem is the new regs does nobody any good at all.

what they should say is that it is now an offence for any person to offer themselves in a paid for professional capacity as a sparky plumber etc without valid and up to date tickets etc.

as the situation appears, any body can still offer their services with no qualification to do so. Ok the work they do might not gets past regs in a large site or they won\'t be allowed on in the first place, someone who sticks an ad in the paper and does private work is competely out of that loop. how many jobbing builders are there out there that\'ll do the \'odd bit\' off wiring/plumbing etc. Nothing to stop em either

Thread Hijacking at is best
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
\"bit harsh that\" sadly reality bites
DIY electricians face large fines

The government has been worried by rising deaths
DIY electricians face big fines from Saturday but many are unaware of the new legislation, a survey suggests.
The new regulations mean work more complicated than replacing a plug socket or changing a light switch can require official approval.

The government opted for legislation because of a rising number of deaths due to amateur electrical work.

But a survey by British Gas found 61% of respondents did not know about the new regulations.

And the survey suggested 60% would still do major electrical work themselves or get an unqualified friend to help, despite the new laws.

Work such as fitting a new circuit in a house will require a local authority inspection or the use of a certified electrician.

House fires


Those who break the regulations face fines up to £5,000.

Dangerously-fitted electrics cost the lives of an average of 10 people a year, with 750 seriously injured, the Department of Trade and Industry says.

Unsafe circuits also caused 2,336 house fires last year.

A DTI leaflet earlier this month was launched by Dr Jenny Tonge MP, who lost her daughter in an electrical accident.

Building Regulations Minister Phil Hope said: \"These changes will give those renting or buying a property extra peace of mind and reinforce the message from DIY manuals and consumer associations to take special care when considering electrical work in the home.

\"Our aim is to drive up standards of workmanship and protect consumers by making our homes safer.\"

this is what its all about if un-qualified people and poor tradesmen continue without knowledge of new regs then fatalities will continue to rise.


john
 
-it is all not before time either, thankfully the home owner pack next year should also help to sort out a lot of this aswell..............however it seems only a very small percentage of people seem aware about the regulations, i have hardley read anything about the chages except in the trade press, hopefully soon some tv advertising should be shown to enlighten everyone about there obligations
 
I still have my doubts that it will change anything. Cowboys will still operate. Our house, when we bought it was \'professionally\' rewired. got the bills from the previous owner. Lots of nice IEE stickers on the guys van, but the lights in the kitchen were switch neutral! Still see the same firm\'s van floating around the dale

I suspect there are countless homes up and down the country with sub-standard electrical systems that the owners have no knowledge of, with the work being done by previous occupiers.

would it not be even more sensible just to put a blanket ban on anyone trying to operate that is substandard. The regs don\'t stop people operating only make it easier to prosecute when they screw up.

If anything is going result in more work for the true professionals then it would be that
 
erm ill just add that any work i did myself ,was with permission from the council and subject to inspection afterwards ,they even offerd me a job lol,on the whole i agree some people shouldnt be allowed near a screwdriver but basic electrics such as adding a spur are now under the thumb and as such youl have to pay someone to do what you know you can competently do yourself,somehow i dont think itl catch on ,should have been in the chat section this one lol
 
your right about the chat section Bri, maybe one of the mods could move it, would deffinatley be more appropiate there, however your very wrong about it catching on it has,and will and things will only get tighter...i would never give any tenant permision to do gas work at the local authority to which i am there gas consultant
 
sorry Davey, did you mention something about a some coast angler ??? hee hee!!!! am also sorry for hi jacking your thread, i will start a new one in the corect forum next time, please feel free to hi jack it...i owe you one
 
not gas work bob i agree that all gas work should be done by corgi registerd plumbers ,but how many tenants or even landlords are going to bring in a sparkie for work they can do themselves ,i had to take a course on farm electrics when i was working out in the sticks and it coverd the basics and some of the more detailed work as well as saftey issues ,i passed the course with credits but i am deamed incompetent becouse i cant afford a grand to go out and get another bit of paper saying i can do the work,ive recently converted my house from a 2 to a 3 bedroom and had to add some circuits in ,the work is well above standard and has passed council inspection but as of now im supposed to pay someone ???
 
Bri the point is that is the law, incompetent is possibly the wrong choice of word, the correct word should be unqualified as mentioned earlier by John and Clare.......at the end of the day though means the same thing. you cant do do it.....people with some experince are purely unqualifiedl........a big percentage of diy people are incompetent
 
bah humbug lol ,those who are qualified or should i say used to be are now not as in bigh`s case time served but incompetent his words not mine lol ,its all down to red tape at the end of the day

oh and this angler bloke ?clean shaven lad with a beared bout 6ft shortish bloke ?

[Edited on 14/1/2005 by bribones]
 
must say some great comments have came from davys post (oop) but on the whole if any nesa member would like any advice please dont hesitate to ask its better safe than sorry.

john

sorry davy for going of the beaten track
 
What about a MP ? He knows jack shit about anything and gets to run the country . A classic case being John Prescott , seemingly a career as a steward in the merchant navy qualified him to be minister of transport!!! If the goverment were are so concerned with safety and competance , where did all the apprenticeship schemes go to then .
 
Dave,

There is a book in the Narnia series by CS Lewis that tells of a teacher who was no good as a teacher, so they made her a head, and when she was no good as a head, they made her an Schools Inspector, and when she was no good as an Inspector they made her an MP. It kind of rings true, and that was written in the 1930\'s or 1940\'s, I believe.

I must admit, on a general level, that i get really frustrated when I cant get a decent length of cable on appliances to run them from sockets that are in the wrong place for the way I want to organise my kitchen, and , if a plug gets damaged, I have to cut a bit more cable off to get a new plug on because they all seem to come integrated to the cable these days.

Yet I remember before I got married, in the dim and distant past, thatIi lived in a bedsit with the live and the neutral connected the wrong way round in the socket\". We need a sensible level of regulation, not some idiotic government job creation scheme.

The postings on this topic, forgetting about the Southern Jessie - sorry match angler - have highlighted one thing. 10 people die each year because of improperly fitted electrics. What is the number who are killed as the result of improper maintenance on motor vehicles?

The other thing is that the protection of the public is patchy. Less than 5 miles from my home there is a man in practice as an accountant who has spent time in prison for fraud. It\'s crazy. Who is protecting his clients from him.

Freddie and the Dreamers got it right in the 1960\'s when they told us \"Its a Crazy World We\'re Living In!\"

Fred

[Edited on 15/1/2005 by UKFred]
 

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