Word of caution

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T-bone Sanchez

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A friend of a friend who lives up the road decided to install some spot-lights in his ceiling on monday, a common diy job that Im sure plenty of you have done.

I dont know the guy so I dont know his knowledge and skill however he obviously felt able to carry this out. Sadly something has gone fatally wrong and he's paid the ultimate price.

I dont know the full story yet but I know his wife found him on the floor with the step-ladders at his side, he was dead at the scene and they've said he's was electrocuted.

So, take care kids these things do happen for real.
 
Thats sad, the problem is we always think it will never happen to me, me and my mate wired the spot lights in the bathroom, we were both 18 at the time :(

When I do electrical work I always take the relvant fuse out and then turn off the supply so its a double safety measure.

The only real electrical accident I had was I fitted a dimmer switch but the live or neutral must have been loose causing it short, luckily the earth was fitted properly and it just blew the fuse and caused the switch to burn out so there was no injury or shock.

It sounds like either he was stupid and didn't realise you had to turn off the supply before carrying out work or he was cocky and felt he could work live. I have seen my joiner mate demonstrate how to work live, he wired a light switch when the wires were live, he claimed sparkies do it all the time :(
 
amazingtrade said:
I always take the relvant fuse out and then turn off the supply
Click to expand...

I really hope you do it the other way round.


Sorry to hear that though T-bone
 
I have to move some lights in the lounge soon, but will (as ever) pull the relevant fuse
 
Anex said:
I really hope you do it the other way round.


Sorry to hear that though T-bone
Click to expand...

Lol yep though I do admit some times I will take a fuse out with the supply on as I don't want to cause the inconvience of turning off the supply completly. You just have to extremely careful I know I shouldn't do it and reading this thread I probably won't ever do it again.

I guess its only the like the old fashioned plugs before they had the insulation at the end of the prongs though.
 
I have been electrocuted by the mains three times in my life already and I am only 18! Thankfully I have escaped unharmed each time.
 
Tenson said:
I have been electrocuted by the mains three times in my life already
Click to expand...


/pedant mode

Er, utter bollocks mate, your still alive are you not?

I think maybe you mean that you recieved an electric shock.
Electrocuted would mean death

/pedant mode off.
 
Tenson said:
I have been electrocuted by the mains three times in my life already and I am only 18! Thankfully I have escaped unharmed each time.
Click to expand...

Bloody hell what do you do? Didn't your parents tell you not to stick screw drivers in plug sockets :)

I was nearly injured by a camera flash once, I was 14 and there was a broken camera flash so I took it apart and saw this huge capacitor so I thought I better drain it before attempting to see what the problem is.

I stuck a screw driver at the two terminals the whole room lit up there was a huge bang and the shock gave me a bit of an injury, it wasn't an elelctric shock its just the shock of the bang made me jump really badly.
 
dont play with electrickery its a magic i studied long and hard to master and still dont fully understand it :MILD:
 
its a sad but all to common tail, eletrics are not to be messed with, the second you dis-respect it, is the second it'll bite you in the arse. Always kill the supply before removing any sockets or fittings. Another killer is people using lawn mowers and strimmers without using an RCD unit, just last year a friend of my dad's was killed because he cut the cord of this lawn mower, its cheap to buy and will save your life, or like I have, buy a petrol mower!

Still very sad. :(
 
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I think lawnmowers should have an RCD fitted by law. The problem is a lot of cheap RCDs can't kill the supply as quickly as they need to.
 
penance said:
Is that meant to be funny?
Click to expand...

Well I find irony humourous, I guess it's a personal choice.

Personally, I suspect part P is 'jobs for the boys' - as many of our civil engineering/planning regulations appear to be.

The NICEIC website suggests that 10 people per year died down to faulty installations. I dont find that justification for a new huge bureaucratic system that will fill coffers for building control.

edited: oops, that was only 5 deaths per year:

http://www.niceic.org.uk/consumers/partp1.html
 
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Not even the electrical industry takes part p seriously, they can see it for the huge money making scheme that it is.
How can a scheme devised by an organisation, where only its members are elligible as competent, be taken seriously?

Just the nanny state interferring again in my opinion, like the majority of the building regs. Why haven't any other industries been targeted? How about only allowing 'approved' mechanics work on cars, 'approved' chefs cook your food. I feel more people are physically harmed each year by amateurs in these roles than diy electricians.
 

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