SPARKY P Domestic Electrician
Householder Information
In January 2005, Part P of the Building Regulations came into force. These regulations introduced safety standards to electrical installations within domestic properties.
This means that, with few exceptions, any electrical work undertaken in your home such as the addition of a new electrical circuit or any work in your kitchen, bathroom or garden area must be notified to the Local Authority Building Control for inspection.
For further information about building work and repairs to your home and what you need to be aware of, Communities and Local Government have produced a leaflet that can be downloaded here.
By using a contractor who is registered with a Competent Persons Scheme such as ELECSA, the contractor will be able to self-certify that the work meets the required standards and that it has been notified to the local authority.
ELECSA approved contractors have been independently assessed to ensure that they operate to the highest safety standards. If the work you’ve had done is affected by Part P, your contractor will notify ELECSA of the job done and you will receive a building compliance certificate from ELECSA so that you know that the work has been registered with your Local Authority Building Control.
You will almost certainly have to produce this certificate at a later date, so when it arrives, please keep it in a safe and secure place.
By using an ELECSA contractor, we can offer you additional security by providing you the opportunity to purchase a warranty for the work that has just been completed. If you have not already been given a copy of the Part P leaflet from the Electrical Contractors’ Insurance Company Limited (ECIC), ask your contractor for a copy or contact ECIC directly on 0845 034 3755.
If you would like to purchase a warranty for your electrical installation, please click here
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For further information and advice about electrical safety in the home, please click here
INFORMATION ABOUT ELECTRICAL "PART P"
Statistics compiled by the government indicate that defective fixed electrical installations in UK households cause around 30 deaths and over 1,250 serious injuries every year. To address this issue and the fact that the electrical industry is unregulated, the government has created new Building Regulations
In May 2003 the Government announced that it would introduce a new Part to the Building Regulations, Part P, which would bring domestic electrical installation work in England and Wales under the legal framework of the Building Regulations. It will, for the first time, place a legal requirement for safety upon electrical installation work in dwellings, although the sector is highly regarded for its high levels of conformity with its chief standard, BS 7671.
It was announced that Part P would only be introduced in law when self-certification schemes were in place to ensure competency of the work undertaken. Such schemes are now in place.
The original Approved Document P Electrical Safety came into force on the 1st January 2005. Its purpose as with all other Approved Documents was to provide practical guidance for some of the more common building situations.
Part P of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations (England and Wales) has been amended in an attempt to provide greater clarity of the requirement and to make enforcement more proportionate to the risk. To reflect these amendments, a new version of Approved document P has been issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)). This came into effect on Thursday 6th April 2006 and may be obtained from the ODPM website.
It is expected that bringing electrical work in dwellings under building regulations control will reduce the number of deaths, injuries and fires caused by faults in electrical installations. It is expected that nationally Part P will lead to an improvement in the competence of electrical contractors and to an improvement in the overall quality of electrical work.
The new requirements will not apply to electrical works commenced prior to 1st January 2005 or to works covered by a Full Plans Application that has been approved without conditions. For works covered by a Building Notice, Part P will apply where they are not commenced before 1st January. It will not apply to electrical work where the contract for the work was entered into before 1st January 2005 and the work was completed before 1st April 2005.
For a selection of Electrical Safety leaflets suitable for download, please visit this site run by the Electrical SAFETY Council.
For answers to some of the more technical questions on the 17th Edition guidance with domestic electrical installations,
please visit Electrical Regulations FAQs website.
Visit the Electrical Regulations Website for more details.
ALWAYS ASK FOR ID AND CHECK AGAINST THE COMPENTANT PERSONS REGISTER
If in doubt, ask the engineers for their ID.
If you would like to search for an ELECSA Approved Contractor, please click here