single switch to double

[Davethsparky]

@Davethsparky What you say is a mixture of sense and nonsense.

Yes safety must be a priority, and you mention safe isolation above in your post, safe isolation is a procedure to safeguard an electrical tester who may become complacent or forgetful. Its a method rather like mirror, signal manoeuvre when driving a car, and used to install a set method for safe testing.

For everyday use, simply turning off a circuit is sufficient. You will have seen the labels "Isolate before removing cover" DIY electrical works goes on everyday, is it not better that we help if we can, to make it safer? Or do we just ignore them and leave it all up to fate. 

Safe isolation is a procedure to safeguard everybody who is isolating anything to work on it, not just testers. Unfortunately it has become like mirror signal manouver in that people seem to learn it as a set procedure and not actually think about what the need to isolate and how to prove it.

ive witnessed someone doing a standard electrical safe isolation test on the output side of a generator, but not bother to isolate the battery or fuel supply before working on the generator.

how do you know that simply turning off the circuit is adequate? (I realise this is stretching a point, but I still believe one death is too many) but what if the previous diyer of a mistake externally has led to the neutral being switched off instead of the live? 

 

[ProDave]

how do you know that simply turning off the circuit is adequate? (I realise this is stretching a point, but I still believe one death is too many) but what if the previous diyer of a mistake externally has led to the neutral being switched off instead of the live? 

He's taking a feed from a light circuit.

So I would suggest he turns that light on, ensures the light is on and working.  Then without touching the light switch, go to the consumer unit and turn the mcbs for all the lighting circuits off.  Go back and check that the light has actually gone off. Then for added good measure, go and turn the main switch off at the consumer unit as well.

Then even without £hunderds of test equipment, you can have a high degree of certainty that the light feed he is about to connect to is now dead.

If there are other people in the house, tell them what you are doing so nobody wonders why the lights are not working and goes and turns it back on again.

I fully agree with others that life is full of risks. I think everything should be banned and we should all live in padded cells, but someone would still find a way to injure themselves. Make something idiot proof, and someoen will come up with a better idiot.

One of my hobbies is sailing a small sailing boat. You might think being at sea in a smal boat that could sink, or capsize, or you could fall out of it is dangerous, but actually statistically, the most dangerous bit of that activity is the car journey to get to the boat.

 

[NozSpark]

Dunno about that Dave.... I had about a year of feeling dizzy (like land sickness) after a good clout from a boom.

But life is full of risks,,, and most of the time we mitigate them

 

[Essex1]

To be fair this thread is not in the DIY section. 

It is fair for Murdoch to give his advice as he sees it just like everyone else does. As long as he remains respectful and polite. 

I stay out of the DIY section for exactly the reasons Murdoch states. 

 

[Doc Hudson]

To be fair this thread is not in the DIY section. 

It is fair for Murdoch to give his advice as he sees it just like everyone else does. As long as he remains respectful and polite. 

I stay out of the DIY section for exactly the reasons Murdoch states. 

It is now in the DIY section. However any reasonably well educated person can deduce from post #3 that this is a DIY question and should hopefully answer with appropriate comments. I'm not sure Learning curve considers some of the replies respectful or polite. As with all forums there are the small minority who's contributions tend to be far more negative than positive. Which can make you question the motives and reasoning behind why they post in the first place.

Doc H.

 

[HandySparks]

The only issues are with regard to Building Regulations, if the work does not require Building Regulations notification then unfortunately they are free to do as they wish.  Legally.

Is that true?

I was under the impression that work on buildings had to comply with the Building Regulations, whether notifiable or not.

 

[Essex1]

It is now in the DIY section. However any reasonably well educated person can deduce from post #3 that this is a DIY question and should hopefully answer with appropriate comments. I'm not sure Learning curve considers some of the replies respectful or polite. As with all forums there are the small minority who's contributions tend to be far more negative than positive. Which can make you question the motives and reasoning behind why they post in the first place.

Doc H.

It really does depend on what you view as 'more negative than positive'. I personally believe that giving an in skilled person a step by step guide to complete a job that if done incorrectly could be fatal is negative.