DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad Electrical
Regulations broken: BS 7671:2008 – Regulation 134.1.1 + Regulation 522.6.1 + Regulation 522.6.6 + Regulation 412.2.4.1 + Regulation 526.9 + Regulation 526.5

So what does the poor erection of electrical cables have to do with a hammer, a nail and a big bang? Lots if the cable has been erected in such a way that it endangers life, limb and property. So I’ll again try and hammer home the idea of installing cables within permitted and safe routes.

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The pictures above say it all. The tenant in this property decided that they wanted to run an extension lead to a new fridge. The tried to tack it to the wall in an area that should have been safe. They managed to get the first nail into the wall but when they tapped in the second nail; BANG! The nail made contact with a then hidden live wire.

After we isolated the electricity we started to dig around the scorched area to locate the source of the problem. We quickly came upon two PVC sheathed cables (2.5mm twin and earth) laying on their sides (flat edge not to the wall but facing the floor), stacked one on top of each other and only 1mm behind the plaster. The cables appeared to run to the double socket that can be seen to the left side of the tile work. When we removed the socket to check we also found that the PVC sheathing from the T&E cable were stripped back beyond the metal back box.

See the correct and safe location to run cables here.

So the question is why put so much effort doing it wrong when it could have been done correctly. For the same cost of material the original work could have been done correctly and satisfied all building regulations. If the original installer had run the ring main cables straight up from the metal double back box to the ceiling and then ran his cable across the top of the wall within 150mm of the ceiling he would have satisfied Reg 552.6.6. Had the installer run the two cables flat edge to the wall and side by side and clipped them properly he would have satisfied Reg 134.1.1 and Regulation 522.6.1. Had the installer made sure that a rubber grommet was installed in the metal back box for the PVC cable sheath to pass through and made sure that the PVC sheath was fully inside the box  before the cable cores were exposed then everything would have been safe.

So as always we see that the job could have been done correctly and the only thing physically missing from this job was one or two rubber grommets at a cost of approximately .02 pence each. The problem was lack of understanding. That lack of understanding kills and maims people everyday.

By just following the Cable Route chart above most of the above safety issues would have been eliminated.

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