is this ok/safe???

tippgod

i got in an electrican to add a few sockets and rewire the lights for me. He said that he would do it at weekends as it would be cheaper and i was not in a rush as i was waiting for another part of the house to be renovated. We aggreed a price, witch was to include a cert to certifiy his work. He did the job and left and i paid him without getting the cert ( but thats another days argument).
i had a builder friend in and he commented on a few things , namely the lights switches. He thinks that these are unsafe as the screw is outside of the plastic and if a wire became loose, this screw head can become "live". I informed the electrician and he told me it was "grand".
See attached photo

Is there any organisation i can contact as i am getting no joy off the electrican

Kristopherus

To my non-expert eye, that pic is similar to thousands & thousands of switches all over the country. Those screws are inserted through 2 shafts and go nowhere near a live feed. I think your builder should stick to building.

tippgod

Thanks for the reply Kris, it reminded me of something. On two of the light switches, he never used a back box, he just screwed the front cover ( if that makes sense) onto a lat . Its an old building that had light switches installed in the fifties where there was a metal tab screwed to the wall. If i get a chance later , ill unscrew it and take a picture

ptogher14

Your builder is some what right. If it was metal box and not earthed it could come live if a cable came lose, and judging by the electricians work would be very possible. Many older houses didn't have the lighting circuits earthed. However if your electrician was working on the circuit he should of rectified this. If I was to take a guess I wouldn't say the screws will become live purely because I would guess it's a plastic box behind the switch. That's the reason he used those screws. The threads tend to wear out easily and the electrician was too lazy to change the box. I personally wouldn't of handed money over to him after leaving that mess and I'd put good money on it he didn't do the job properly behind-the-scenes.

brightspark

Not certain as I don't have my copy of the regs with me, but I think not having a back box would be a breach of the regs.

If it is a breach of the Regs you can report him to whichever organisation he is affiliated.

http://www.reci.ie/ConsumerServices/Complaints.aspx

http://www.ecssa.ie/customer_info.html

From the look of those screws I'm guessing there isn't a back box, as they look like wood screws.

It's not unheard of for the fixing screw to damage a wire and become live!

brightspark

Kristopherus wrote: »

To my non-expert eye, that pic is similar to thousands & thousands of switches all over the country. Those screws are inserted through 2 shafts and go nowhere near a live feed. I think your builder should stick to building.

There may be thousands of switches like that, but that is no guarantee of safety.

As you have stated you are a "non-expert" and while some screws may pass through a shaft many do not!

Anytime I have encountered screws like that it is because of there being no back box at all and I have seen many examples of damaged insulation on cables from screws accidentally driven through cables.

Bruthal

Kristopherus wrote: »

To my non-expert eye, that pic is similar to thousands & thousands of switches all over the country. Those screws are inserted through 2 shafts and go nowhere near a live feed. I think your builder should stick to building.

Perhaps a closer look will tell a different story. Its a quick shortcut job by the look of it.