Own up , who done it....

[Dustydazzler]

Homeowner suffers potentially deadly electric shock from faulty light in 'botched' new bathroom

Ian Young 52, said he suffered a "hellish" nine weeks after receiving a heart-pounding electric shock at his home in Kent.

uk.yahoo.com

 

[Baddegg]

Light weight I’ve had two this evening……

 

[Aaron b]

Bet he wish he stuck with a pull cord.

 

[7029 dave]

So much information not present so hard to make any comments.
One thing I am proud of never ever installed a switch inside a bathroom and never ever will.

 

[mattg4321]

No cpc continuity to metal box with plastic switch by the sounds of it. Only a C3 according to most though! I always like to fit nylon screws if the customer can’t or wont rewire I must admit.

 

[LukeD]

So much information not present so hard to make any comments.
One thing I am proud of never ever installed a switch inside a bathroom and never ever will.

Agree....have no idea what the issue really was !

 

[Dustydazzler]

Best guess is the metal back box came live ( possible pinched live ) nothing earthed so , inturn making the fixing screws 240v

240v zap in the morning will wake you up ready for anything

 

[Aaron b]

Best guess is the metal back box came live ( possible pinched live ) nothing earthed so , inturn making the fixing screws 240v

240v zap in the morning will wake you up ready for anything

That's what I was thinking. I generally avoid poking screws of electrical accessories while wet and butt naked just out of the bath though.

I had an iffy light switch in my office where the screws were live through earth leakage from led lighting. A cheepo multimeter measured about 0.008mA but it still lit a volt test screw driver and sparked when earthed. It might have been a similar occurrence.

 

[telectrix]

240v zap in the morning will wake you up ready for anything

cheaper than the average shower, Boo-Boo.

 

[UNG]

It begs the question how Wickes or any of the other sheds for that matter vet the contractors they use, interestingly there is no mention of whether the electrical contractor was a scheme member or not

 

[Dustydazzler]

Wickes pay peanuts so not surprised that things were left live and untested

 

[littlespark]

The picture on the article shows a shaver socket... so was that where the fault was?

There's no explanation of what the fault was, or what the existing faults were that the installer didn't find.

 

[Sapper]

That switch looks remarkably like a shaver point to me

 

[freddo]

The picture on the article shows a shaver socket... so was that where the fault was?

It wouldn't have been me, this is more my style, I use these. They are a lot cheaper than that bigger version with that big square metal thing in the back.

 

[Aaron b]

It wouldn't have been me, this is more my style, I use these. They are a lot cheaper than that bigger version with that big square metal thing in the back.

... for shower and wetrooms though

 

[UNG]

It wouldn't have been me, this is more my style, I use these. They are a lot cheaper than that bigger version with that big square metal thing in the back.
View attachment 100993

You might want to read this Socket Outlets For Shavers: What Do You Need To Consider? - https://professional-electrician.com/technical/socket-outlets-shavers/

The bigger and more expensive version is manufactured for a reason


Given that a lot of homes no longer have a bath in the "bath" room should the regs embrace this and modify or include other types of wash room within the regs to avoid confusion or a bending of the intended meaning of particular regs

 

[Dartlec]

Looks like Yahoo lifted it from the Mirror, or vice versa - but in the Mirror's version:

the 52-year-old has admitted that the father of the electrician responsible for the work drove 50 miles from London to Sittingbourne, Kent to apologise for his "unqualified" son's work.​

Which doesn't specify what counts as qualified though - would be interested to see if a Part P notification has been done..

Does also suggest that some of the issue was the existing installation - so maybe no RCD on that circuit, or cpc was used but not properly tested to see if it was connected.

However, if it really was the fixing screws, SparkyNinja, who's opinion I value, thinks that fixing screws aren't 'extraneous conductive parts' because of the small area exposed to touch, so that metal back boxes don't need to be earthed separately (though still good practise)

If it was a plastic back box, maybe the live ended up touching the screws because of the gap between tiles and the back box, since usually the screws are fully enclosed in plastic....

Which raises an interesting question - are tiles considered part of the 'enclosure' when they are thick and there is maybe 10mm gap between the front of the tiles accessory against the tiles and the front of the back box.

Edit:

This bit may be relevant (from the Mirror)

Despite this, when a second electrician came to fix the problem, he flagged multiple harmful issues - including the fact that live conductors were not made safe, and some were still live​

Which could mean almost anything - but perhaps a circuit from the original room was just cut off and left in the wall, touching a back box? Or maybe that was just additional issues found when the installation was checked....

Would like this to be investigated by the HSE and a report issued, but no doubt Wickes will do anything possible to avoid that and it won't happen since there was no serious injury.

 

[Aaron b]

I think such a shock would unlikely be fatal as any contraction would remove them from the screw. Part P only applies to the area around the bath or shower since 2013.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I think such a shock would unlikely be fatal as any contraction would remove them from the screw. Part P only applies to the area around the bath or shower since 2013.

For 99% of handymen , plumbers , DIYers and kitchen Fitters Part Pee has never applied

 

[littlespark]

For 99% of handymen , plumbers , DIYers and kitchen Fitters Part Pee has never applied

And all of Scotland.