"RichardS" noaccess@invalid wrote in message ...

You've stated this before. Do you have any evidence to back this assertion
up? Is, on average, DIY work statistically better or worse than the broad
spectrum of work carried out by tradesmen (qualified or not?).

In the ODPM's "justification" for BRegs Part P ISTR that the number of fatal
electrocutions in the UK is tiny (in 10s rather than 100s or 1000s), and the
stats don't distinguish between fixed and portable appliances, nor
unqualified as opposed to qualified installations.

10 deaths per year in Britain from both appliances and fixed wiring.
One can only guess at the number of these that are from fixed wiring
alone: probably much less than 1 per year. Even if it were as many as
9 per year, this would be one of the safest activities known to our
society.

A huge amount of expense is being placed on us under complete
pretence. Many have said so, many with far bigger voices than me. If
the welfare of the people were being considered at all, this extra
expense would be spent on something where it is genuinely needed, not
on paperwork that will achieve literally nothing.


Where do we stop with this obsession with qualifications and certification?
Should DIY/unqualified car maintenance be banned on the grounds that you
might not spot a problem with the brakes if you happen to be changing the
oil filter?

I've done car brakes, electrical fitting, worked with 18M concentrated
acids, various toxins, made life and death decisions... lets compare.

Of the brakes I've had done professionally, some were downright
dangerous. None of my own work was. Professional mechanics are so
clueless most of them think that if one half fails in dual system
brakes, the other brakes will still work. They will not, not even a
bit.

Of the goods I've bought from professional sources, a few have been
irresponsible or dangerous on the toxin side, my work has not been.

And when it come to life and death decisions, some I've made have been
in dircet contradiction to highly qualified professionals after I have
checked out the facts thoroughly and documented why they have got it
wrong. In the majority of cases they have eventually accepted my case
and acted accordingly. Even in cases where I have no paper quals in
their field and they are highly respected. Had a case of this just
recently, and the person is now alive thankfully.

This is a scary idea to many, that someone without the bit of paper
could read up and get their facts straight, and someone with the bit
of paper could get things so wrong as to cause death to those in their
care. But its all documentable.


Yet it should all come down to paperwork? I think those who put this
paperwork on such a high pedestal are those who are unable to think
for themselves, and never dare question a professionals decision. If
they do so they will find just how imperfect people are.

Courses exams and paperwork _do_ matter, for sure, but I think most
today sorely misunderstand what they do and do not mean.


Caveat Emptor. It's stunning that we don't commission electrical surveys
and gas safety checks more frequently as part of the house buying process.

Theres another field riddles with crass incompetence, surveying.


Regards, NT