Are you allowed to Switch off and Lock off a dangerous imstallation?

[westward10]

@loz2754 sums it up in #13. That is what I do and walk away, if no action is taken and someone loses a life it is not my problem.

 

[Pete999]

This has been done to death (excuse the pun) on the other thread about the pub car park. Similar pints points raised in that thread.

Oh OK then

 

[loz2754]

Oh OK then

It is an interesting and important topic Pete, and I'm sure it will be raised time and again.
As usual, the powers that be sit on their sweaty palms and leave us mortals to thrash it out...

 

[ipf]

Of course there is the moral aspect of this to consider. If someone died following my departure from the premises, how would I feel? Could I/should I have done more? I would say we have a moral duty to make safe any C1 clear and present danger items, even if it's just simply applying a temporary cover of some sort to exposed live parts.

A Bad feeling, no doubt, but what if a person fell down the stairs and broke their neck in the middle of the night because of no light?
Produce the correct paperwork and notice to cover your back.

I was once called out to an old mcb CU problem with the front cover completely melted away and still in use. There was a 5 or 6 inch diameter hole in it, all blacked and everything open. He asked me how much to change it and he'd phone me later to get it sorted. Never got back in touch. What can you do?

 

[StephenRowley]

I suspect this one that only ever going to settled when something bad does happen and it ends up a court. Sadly

 

[UNG]

The only regulations I can think of that could be used to disconnect an installation or parts of it would be the ESQCR 2002 regs then it comes down to who has the authority to use them

When connecting an installation to a supply the electrician has to ensure that it is safe to connect it under the ESQCR regs so if an installation becomes unsafe who can legitimately and legally disconnect it

 

[Montybaber]

In my previous role as a LOLER examiner we could only advise of immediate defects that posed danger to health. We would get a signature from the person in charge of the equipment and took a copy, we could also inform the enforcing authority if the situation was imminently dangerous.
Some clients gave the authority to isolate equipment but it was unusual.
I have never worked as a domestic electrician but if I was the last competent person to view a dangerous installation I would feel very uncomfortable leaving without doing my very best to make the situation as safe as practically possible (and I would certainly cover my arse) the competent trained person has a duty of care

Just my opinion

 

[James]

Let’s remember, most of the time we have already isolated the circuit(s) that we later find out are dangerous.
If it is locked off to prevent injury whilst being worked on, I would not be removing the lock until it was safe to do so.

Nobody can force me to energise something I think is a danger to life.


If the customer doesn’t want me to make it safe then I will give them a danger notice and the key to the lock.

 

[Lister1987]

As I said in the pub garden thread, until the law changes our duty of care ends at the danger notice (and thus discharging the duty of care put on us by EAWR). It's going to take something bad to happen for any change in that (and lawyers for once not being slippery) worse than already experienced of course).