Unsatisfactory work

[susi1]

hi
I bought a flat a couple of years ago and recently my son was getting electric shocks on the cooker, metal kettle and sink top if he touched two at once. He thought wrongly that it was static but the shocks became worse. I also got a shock touching two appliances at once.
Got an electrician to check it over and he informed me that 230volts were being conducted between the appliances if touched similtaneously.
He checked the fuse box and discovered that it hadnt been earthed.
We had electrician put in new plug points and do the electrics on a newly installed kitchen.
He clearly had not checked his work as I was told that if he had done so he would have discovered the fact that it wasnt earthed.

My concern is that it was a fatality waiting to happen.

Who is accountable for this.

Thank you.

 

[JohnD]

electrician

do you mean a qualified electrician who was a member of a Competent Person Scheme?

How did you select this person?

 

[JohnW2]

Got an electrician to check it over ... He checked the fuse box and discovered that it hadnt been earthed. .... We had electrician put in new plug points and do the electrics on a newly installed kitchen. .... He clearly had not checked his work ... My concern is that it was a fatality waiting to happen. .... Who is accountable for this.

I'm not sure what you are asking, beyond the obvious ...

... the 'electrician' who undertook this apparently incompetence/dangerous work is clearly responsible, hence should be 'accountable' - there is no-one else to blame, or be made accountable, is there?

Kind Regards, John

 

[EddieM]

At this moment, your son assuming he is the owner, is liable. FGS get a proper electrician round soonest to rectify, then maybe fish around for liability!!

 

[susi1]

Have electrician coming to sort out earthing problem on Monday.....
The problem will be locating the original electrician and speaking to second electrician that did the kitchen work. I believed he was properly qualified however i never checked his certification.....i didnt know to do that.

 

[susi1]

John W2....i had wondered if second electrician had tested his work it would have been revealed. He would have sorted the problem which he never did.

 

[JohnW2]

At this moment, your son assuming he is the owner, is liable. FGS get a proper electrician round soonest to rectify, then maybe fish around for liability!!

I don't quite understand that. The OP is the owner and her son is the 'victim' - so how can her son be 'liable'.

As you say, it obviously needs to be sorted, by a competent electrician, ASAP.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnD]

example of a Compent Person scheme.
http://www.niceic.com/

you can search by location or name

there are a number of such schemes, don't blame me for not listing them all.

A qualified person will usually proudly display his scheme membership on the van, card, letterheadings, adverts etc.

 

[akist]

If there are leaks so you're getting shocks, earthing might save your life, and then you still need to discover the leaks and fix them, no?

 

[EddieM]

I don't quite understand that. The OP is the owner and her son is the 'victim' - so how can her son be 'liable'.

As you say, it obviously needs to be sorted, by a competent electrician, ASAP.

Kind Regards, John

The owner is liable to a third party entering the building, particularly as they know that electric shocks are being administered, therefore any immediate liability lies with the owner, it is the owners liability to ensure any third party is safe when entering a premises. The ultimate liability obviously lies elsewhere, but then as they say "the dead can't sue" Get it sorted out first, liability second. End of.

 

[JohnW2]

The owner is liable to a third party entering the building, particularly as they know that electric shocks are being administered, therefore any immediate liability lies with the owner, it is the owners liability to ensure any third party is safe when entering a premises.

Well, for a start, it is the OP who is the owner, not her son (the 'victim'), so it couldn't really be the case that, as you suggested, her son was 'liable'.

What you say may now be strictly correct in legal terms, since the owner is now aware of the hazard (which she wasn't before her son started getting shocks) - but I rather doubt that this was what the OP was asking about when she asked "who is accountable?" - i.e. suggesting that she might, in some senses, now be 'liable' does not help her very much!

Kind Regards, John

 

[EddieM]

Well, for a start, it is the OP who is the owner, not her son (the 'victim'), so it couldn't really be the case that, as you suggested, her son was 'liable'.

What you say may now be strictly correct in legal terms, since the owner is now aware of the hazard (which she wasn't before her son started getting shocks) - but I rather doubt that this was what the OP was asking about when she asked "who is accountable?" - i.e. suggesting that she might, in some senses, now be 'liable' does not help her very much!

Kind Regards, John

FFS, John, of all people I would have expected better, sort it out first assign liability second.

 

[JohnW2]

FFS, John, of all people I would have expected better, sort it out first assign liability second.

Of course. The OP is clearly already aware of that (she said at the start that it was a "a fatality waiting to happen", and has an electrician coming to sort it out on Monday), and, as I wrote ...

.... it obviously needs to be sorted, by a competent electrician, ASAP.

However, the OP's question was "Who is accountable" - and I really don't think you've helped her very much in that respect by telling her that, in some senses, she, herself, is now legally 'liable'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EddieM]

Of course. The OP is clearly already aware of that (she said at the start that it was a "a fatality waiting to happen", and has an electrician coming to sort it out on Monday), and, as I wrote ...

However, the OP's question was "Who is accountable" - and I really don't think you've helped her very much in that respect by telling her that, in some senses, she, herself, is now legally 'liable'.

Kind Regards, John

Rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic is stupid.

 

[JohnW2]

John W2....i had wondered if second electrician had tested his work it would have been revealed. He would have sorted the problem which he never did.

Sorry, I missed this one!

I'm not sure that I understand who you mean by 'the second electrician'. Was he not the one who (after your son got shocks) checked the work that someone else had done on the kitchen sockets and discovered that they were not earthed?

What I am also a bit confused by is that I would have thought the electrician who detected that (dangerous) lack of earthing would have offered to rectify it, before any harm came to anyone. Was that not the case?

Kind Regards, John