Your answers Gentlemen, please. This is indicating a serious problem in the Industry. Trust is now zero. I am disgusted with the behavior of these alleged "inspectors" who are dim, dumb, deaf and blind, and cannot read the BBB. It is not good enough is it?
I've been pondering this - I think the bottom line is that those doing the inspections don't fully understand what is expected of them (and a parallel is that those ordering the work don't have a clue whether what they've been given at the end is reasonable or not). GN 3 is all very well but its very nature as a GN means it has to cover (at least in principle) a very wide range of installations and is perhaps perceived as an office reference book or course text book rather than something to be referred to on an on-going basis, perhaps on site.
So perhaps one positive move might be an introduction of an "On-Site Guide to Periodic Inspections" - like the OSG it would concentrate on <=100A/phase installations and take a more informal/readable approach concentrating on the down to earth practicalities of carrying out a Periodic Inspection and the kinds of problems likely to be found in domestics, reasonable approaches to be taken (e.g. sampling), alternative methods that might still give a reasonable level of safety despite not complying with the latest regulations, emphasising that Periodic Inspection is a whole different ball game to Initial Verifications, and yes giving lists of common items with suggested Codes - (or more importantly explaining why it's not codeable). Sort of bringing together the relevant bits of BS 7671, GN 3, best practice guides/'code breakers' and so on into one place and trying to make it readable.
For sure it wouldn't of itself address the basic problem of competence, but it might help nudge many back onto the correct course - and in the same way that the OSG gets picked up by DIYers, it could serve in part as a source of information for those ordering EICRs.
I've been pondering this - I think the bottom line is that those doing the inspections don't fully understand what is expected of them (and a parallel is that those ordering the work don't have a clue whether what they've been given at the end is reasonable or not). GN 3 is all very well but its very nature as a GN means it has to cover (at least in principle) a very wide range of installations and is perhaps perceived as an office reference book or course text book rather than something to be referred to on an on-going basis, perhaps on site.
So perhaps one positive move might be an introduction of an "On-Site Guide to Periodic Inspections" - like the OSG it would concentrate on <=100A/phase installations and take a more informal/readable approach concentrating on the down to earth practicalities of carrying out a Periodic Inspection and the kinds of problems likely to be found in domestics, reasonable approaches to be taken (e.g. sampling), alternative methods that might still give a reasonable level of safety despite not complying with the latest regulations, emphasising that Periodic Inspection is a whole different ball game to Initial Verifications, and yes giving lists of common items with suggested Codes - (or more importantly explaining why it's not codeable). Sort of bringing together the relevant bits of BS 7671, GN 3, best practice guides/'code breakers' and so on into one place and trying to make it readable.
For sure it wouldn't of itself address the basic problem of competence, but it might help nudge many back onto the correct course - and in the same way that the OSG gets picked up by DIYers, it could serve in part as a source of information for those ordering EICRs.
