building regs and part P

[liveandlearn]

I found this on another website I would be interested in peoples views on this;



Section 8 of the regs (health and safety) Quotes this,

Parts A to D, F to K, N and P ... of Schedule 1 shall not require anything to be done except for the purpose of securing reasonable standards of health and safety for persons in or about buildings (and any others who may be affected by buildings, or matters connected with buildings).

From ODPM Circular 08/2004, it is clear that the extension of section 8 to include Part P was not an oversight -- it must be the case that the limitation on obligations was intended to apply to Part P. However, it is equally clear that section 8 is intended to exempt from regulation building work that was cosmetic, rather that safety-related. It wasn't really intended to put safety-related work behond the scope of regulation. Nevertheless, on a literal reading of section 8, it seems to me that if you have, by the way you carry out the work, done everything that is required to ``secure reasonable standards of health and safety'' then, by definition, Part P cannot impose any further obligation on you.

Opinions please as to what your interpretation would be.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I don't see what the problem/concern/question/confusion/whatever is.

These are the ONLY requirements imposed by Part P of the Building Regulations:

P1 Reasonable provision shall be made in the design, installation, inspection and testing of electrical installations in order to protect persons from fire or injury.

P2 Sufficient information shall be provided so that persons wishing to operate, maintain or alter an electrical installation can do so with reasonable safety.

The rest of it is concerned with when, and by whom, compliance with the Building Regulations must be certified.

But in terms of the doing, nothing in what you've posted above in any way conflicts with what the regs say.