Bill wrote:

I'm not looking to apportion blame any where, apart from maybe at myself
for having touched a damp switch, more just interested in if it would be
reasonable to expect the fault to have been picked up on a routine
electrical inspection or is this taking it too far?

I would be surprised is a routine inspection would find this. It does
however highlight the significant difference between a light switch on a
metal back box and a power socket - i.e. no direct earth connection to
the fitting itself.

Last time I encountered something like this was after I rewired a
friends house. I got a call to say "help" all the power had just gone
out! Turns out he was plastering in wall chases and got a bit over
enthusiastic with one of the larger ones (containing 6 cables) just
above a light switch. Being a TT install, he had injected enough wet
plaster into the switch to create 100mA (or more) of earth leakage and
took out the master RCD.


--
Cheers,

John.

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