Swapping light fittings/switches in rented houses

Joined
18 Mar 2018
Messages
869
Reaction score
59
Country
United Kingdom
I work for a firm as a gas plumber. Who own a lot of rented properties. They have asked me to swap switches/ light fittings I have said no as not qualified. What qualification would one need to fit these in a rented house? Would be like for like swaps. Thanks.
 
Sponsored Links
You can change light switches like for like but one has to question the integrity of the company asking you as a trained plumber requesting this. Ask to have 18th Edition training or similar.
 
Thanks they have offered neither. Is there a qualification a bit below 18th? I will ask or refuse to do it I think.
 
Sponsored Links
Matt887, good evening.

In general terms, if you are a "Gas Safe" approved plumber / fitter then you know only too well what hoops you have had to undergo to achieve your "accreditation" to work on such systems, and indeed what types of systems you ar "permitted" to work on.

The same sort of training / accreditation procedures apply to Electrical installations.

If it were me?????? I would decline the offer of the work.

Ken
 
You would of course get the blame - justified or not - if anything goes wrong.

Tell them you don't want the responsibilities.
 
If you consider it.?

A rented property, [probably] vacant now????

The changes of fittings could have occurred at any time [historically]

Nice chance to get something done??

OK several years ago prior to recent legislation changing such components was [shall I call it] up for grabs, anyone could replace a light switch, ot a pendant drop just replicate the wires into the same terminals, after all the terminals are marked, Neutral, Live and Earth, what could go wrong?/

Quite a lot, and if your finger prints are located during a forensic test following a fatal electrical fire.

Think about it, H&Safety at work??

Ken.
 
Is there a qualification a bit below 18th?
Not really - that would be the absolute bare minimum and only proves you can read the book (BS7671).

What qualification would one need to fit these in a rented house?
It's more about having the knowledge and experience to know what to do in all of the situations that will occur.

In theory it's just removing the wires from one item and connecting them in the same way to another one.

In reality, switches can have the terminals in different positions, wires may be too short, wires can break off, fixing screws may be too long/too short, boxes may need rethreading, lugs can break off, and that's before all the other things that go wrong such as the switch not being wired correctly in the first place, tenants attempting their own repairs, light fittings that are supplied with 3 terminals when 4 are required, finding that the number of wires on the ceiling is far more than would ever fit into the tiny light fitting, and then there is at least some basic testing to be done to confirm the earth is really connected and so on.

I have said no as not qualified.
That really is the only sensible thing to do.
 
As an electrician I was told I must do the mechanics job, it was in my contract I have to do any job my foreman says I should do, clearly designed so I can't refuse to brush up when no other work available, which I suppose is fair enough, however it all went wrong, and it cost the company around £500,000 as a result in sickness benefit and compensation and legal fees, likely more as the foreman was asked to resign and he also put in a claim.

As to if I should have refused a second time after told to do the job, yes in hind sight I should have done, as I never worked again. But that is hind sight, and easy to say after the event, to have helped the mechanic would have been OK, to do his job without him checking the method statement and completing the risk assessment was however wrong.

As to if you can refuse is another question, it was accepted by the legal department that having refused once, the foreman should not have forced the issue, but had it gone the other way, and I had not done the job, and as a result was let go, would the courts have found in my favour then?

Even as a qualified electrician where I volunteer now, I am not permitted to do electrical work.
 
Sorry to hear that @ericmark , does sound like the power of the worker to say no needs enhancing, you shouldn't be put in that situation.
Sadly things still go wrong regularly, if you read the updates from the HSE, they are prosecuting on almost a daily basis, especially in construction and agriculture. And those are just the ones we know about.I think we need a bit more health and safety gone mad before workers can really trust companies to look after their health.
 
In general terms, if you are a "Gas Safe" approved plumber / fitter then you know only too well what hoops you have had to undergo to achieve your "accreditation" to work on such systems, and indeed what types of systems you ar "permitted" to work on.
As I understand it gas and electricity are totally different in terms of regulation. For gas there is a single government-endorsed scheme that you are forced to join if you want to do any gas work for hire. Electricity has self-certification schemes which are needed if you want to do "notifiable" work without notifying building control, but most small jobs are not notifiable. So for most small jobs it is up to the customer specifying the work, the tradesman themselves and ultimately, if the **** hits the fan, the courts to decide whether or not a person was competent to do the work they were doing.
 
One possible play in the "but your contract says you do whatever we ask you to do" situations is to respond in writing that you do not believe you are appropriately knowledgable or skilled in that field.
It's certainly not a get out jail free card should they insist, someyhing goes wrong, and the brown stuff starts flying in your direction. But any boss with a brain cell should be able to work what the result is going to be if you stand up in court and state that you were forced under punishment of dismissal to do work you'd told the boss you weren't skilled to do. So hopefully just the written notice would suffice.
If tje boss insists then he'd be in breach of H&SAW regs. In the case of electrics, you'd be required to provide a minor works certificate for each job to comply with BS7671 - which you could not legally do because you don't have the skills and knowledge to sign the declaration. And if you don't comply with BS7671 then you also don't have the knowledge to demonstrate working to an equivalent level of safety.
Then, since these are rental properties, you might drop this little grenade into the conversation. "So boss, since I won't (can't) be working to BS7671, how will you be planning on demonstrating compliance with the Landlord & Tenants Act 1985 sections 9A & 11 ?"
 

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
Back
Top