Electrical Safety

Things to think about

For any significant electrical work conducted by an electrician on your property, the electrician you hire must be registered with a government-approved Part P building regulation schemes. You can check with the schemes directly to find out.

All of their work must be certified by your local authority building control. This means the local authority building control should be notified for any work that would be considered within the domain of Part P building regulation – a registered electrician will notify them on your behalf.

After work is completed, it will be certified. Certification is important for proof that the work has met the appropriate safety standards. Additionally, the certifications are proof of safety for any future buyers of the property – a lack of electrical safety would be a concern and expense to would-be buyers.

Any non-registered electrician conducting Part P building regulation work is illegal and should be reported. Furthermore, that any work conducted by a non-registered electrician would need to be reviewed, and corrected if necessary, by a registered electrician to ensure your safety. Similarly, any sub-contracted electricians should be checked the same – to ensure they are also registered correctly.

More information on Part P building regulations can be found at; communities.gov.uk

Government-Approved Schemes

The government-approved schemes will ensure that if anything were to go wrong during the work’s completion that there is support available to resolve all issues. Examples of popular schemes for electricians:

• NICEIC
• ELECSA
• ECA
• NAPIT
• STROMA
• SELECT
• Other approved schemes via Electrical Safety First.

It is always recommended to check that an electrician is registered with the schemes that they have claimed to be on – you can check this for yourself via the schemes respective websites or by calling.

If you have any other concerns about an electrician, you can

• Ask for proof of their qualifications or contact the awarding bodies for any of their mentioned qualifications
• Ask for references of past work – to prove the quality of their work and their past customer’s feedback

Benefits Of A Registered Electrician

What do you benefit from hiring a registered electrician?

• It is a legal requirement for an electrician to be registered – unregistered electricians or their work are illegal and should be reported and resolved, potentially by removing systems found to be unsafe
• The electrician will handle the whole workload for you
• They will be safer to do the work rather than yourself or an unregistered electrician – registered electricians work to the UK national safety standard
• A registered electrician will be working to the BS7671 safety standard and is regularly assessed to ensure they keep up to this standard
• You will not have any building control charges for the changes made
• An Electrician can arrange the certificates to confirm the work has been completed, inspected and tested to meet correct standards – specifically; an Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Work Certificate (confirming the work meets BS 7671) and a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate confirming the work meets Part P Building Regulations.
• You will be able to take out an insurance-based guarantee for the work being done – so that you can claim if the work is found to not meet the building regulations
• If the work does not meet building regulations, there is a formal complaints procedure to follow – rather than having to resolve the issues yourself

Checking An Electrician Is Registered

You can use the following site to find all registered electricians in your area, by entering your postcode:

electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk

If you cannot find them here, check the sites of any government-approved schemes that you are aware of them being part of. If you cannot find them on either, they are not a registered electrician and should be reported accordingly.

Finding And Hiring A Registered Electrician On MyJobQuote

• Visit MyJobQuote and select the option to ‘Post Your Job’.
• Provide all necessary details including a summary describing the required work and post the job when ready. Electricians will be able to review this and contact you to discuss the work.
• While awaiting contact from local electrician’s and discuss the work, prepare any questions you may have for any electricians – see below for examples.
• Before any agreement, review the electrician’s profile on MyJobQuote – check that they are registered with the government-approved schemes they have claimed and that they have public liability insurance (a minimum of £2 million ideally).
• Ask any further questions you may have for the electrician. If you wish, request references for past work or other proof.
• Agree and hire your choice of electrician.

Possible questions you may have for an electrician before hiring

• How long has the company been operating?
• How long do they expect this type of job to take?
• What is the guarantee period is for any work/installation?
• Do they have any references from past work available?
• Do they have any insurance that will protect your property?

Do raise any of your own questions to the electrician at this point also; generally, it is best to clarify sooner, rather than after hiring them.