Yet the houseowner had not taken any steps to have it removed by the DNO
cut bare live ends
- Thread starter DavidEvans007
- Start date
Yet the houseowner had not taken any steps to have it removed by the DNO
Sponsored Links
Sounds like it's down to the hacksaw rather than the bare ends? Whilst you would hope the DNO has a duty of care with regards to public safety, their lack of attention to detail isn't what caused the accident. The owner has a right to maintain their property safely, so if they were washing windows or even painting and came into contact with the ends it would clearly be due to DNO neglect. That isn't what happened, however, you would hope that they would be very keen to rectify this and the other one immediately. Out of shear embarrassment they possibly might provide some form of compensation for lack of earnings or similar but who knows, doing so may open them up to admitting a safety breech for which they were not technically responsible.
Yes, that seems to be the case.
Quite so - but westie seems to be implying a somewhat less 'concerned' attitude of a DNO to "...just that the tape had started to unwind". I agree that this has nothing to do with the incident that occurred, but I nevertheless find it a little surprising.
Kind Regards, John
Well the housholder apparently didn't know it was an "unsafe live cable". He thought it was an ugly but non-hazardous abandoned cable.
Sponsored Links
Because I am not going to jump on the bandwagon of it must be the DNO that is at fault because they are big business so can afford to pay
If they are, so be it
But it is a lot more complicated than that with a large number of causes to the incident
No he wasn't, but was quite willing to leave it there for 10 years and tell the painter it was dead!
(and the painter to believe him)
Oh and
So was this bit of tape unwinding off one or more cores, if one core was it the live, the neutral or possibly an earth.
If the latter two please, please tell me what hazard it actually presented?
So was this bit of tape unwinding off one or more cores, if one core was it the live, the neutral or possibly an earth.
If the latter two please, please tell me what hazard it actually presented?
I think you are jumping to unjustified conclusions. On the basis of what we've been told, it seems to me that the DNO had little, if anything, to do with the incident, and therefore probably shouldn't be expected to 'pay' anything. If it really is true that DNO personnel once told the householder that the cable was 'dead', they might have a little bit of responsibility - but most of it clearly lies with the person who decided to saw through a cable on the basis of a 10-year-old verbal 'reassurance' that it was dead.
But, no, my comments have been nothing to do with the 'incident' - but, rather, about live 'taped up' conductors left on someone's wall for a decade - which quite possibly could have (but fortunately didn't) caused some other incident. Regardless of what the relevant regulations and legislation might say, I personally regard that as unreasonable and unacceptable.
Kind Regards, John
I frankly don't really care what actually did happen with/to the tape. It's what may have happened with a live cable left on someone's wall for a decade with taped-up ends that makes me amazed that such a practice could possibly be regarded as acceptable.
Kind Regards, John
Is this not similar to me leaving an unterminated live cable part-way up someone's living room wall?
Who would think that acceptable?
Who would think that acceptable?
Quite, I would have thought so.
My first reaction is to simply answer 'no-one', but in view of some of the things being said, I'm not certain that includes DNOs!
Kind Regards, John
I hope this accident does get looked at. I recently moved office at my place of work, and I found an old 'I've been on an EAW course' certificate.
I don't think painters get to go through any electrical awareness courses. My personal view is that if the injured party didn't know better than to attack the cable with a hacksaw, then he should try to raise awareness of his accident.
Now if only the painter had a neon screw driver...... 
I suppose that, at least in moral terms, the property owner probably bears a fair bit of the responsibility. Very few people (whether painters or whatever) would normally dream of taking a hacksaw to a big fat electricity cable they had come across. One therefore can but assume that he must have received extremely strong reassurances (seemingly based on 10-year-old verbal comments) from the property owner before he did it.
If the painter could also see that the cable in question had cut ends (i.e. did not go anywhere), protected only by tape, I suppose that would probably have helped to reinforce the 'reassurances' given by the property owner, so the DNO is probably not (at least morally) totally off the hook.
Kind Regards, John
While I see Westies point, as I said earlier, if this was up a DNO pole, or in their restricted area somewhere, it would be fine, perfectly. But this was up on a private wall. It should of at least been terminated in one of the Burr-packs (spelling?) used to joint two cables on a wall. But even then, would this of stopped someone cutting through?
Who knows. Following from what I recently wrote, I would suspect that if the cable had been seen to have anything on its ends (rather than just 'free ends' with tape) that might just possibly have made the painter think at least twice before accepting the property owner's 'reassurances' that it was dead.
Kind Regards, John
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
