There has been a lot of chat of late about doing the odd DIY project.

My best recommendation on this is a very firm DON'T.

In my training to become a Health &
Safety Professional we had to learn the good and bad practices that have been apparent in the past. There is (maybe was)a place called the Health &
Safety Exhibition in Horseferry Road in London, in this place there is book called "
Book 13"
. In this book there are pictures of the results of mal/ bad practice. Some;
not all resulted in death. It was an eye opener and I'm not going to inform you all of some of the stupid things that have been done. As a result of some the acts of bad practice people were prosecuted and some sent to prison. I'm not going to stop anyone on here from giving good advice. But I must repeat yet again if you are Not qualified in the task that you are thinking of having done then seek advice and get a quote from a professional. Electricity, Heating, Ventilation and all other types of work have there inherent dangers. Electricity can KILL, Hot water can scaled maybe resulting in death. This is not meant as scare tactics but please be careful. I know one or two of you will say this is not the UK. But the end results are always the same when something goes wrong, there is injury or death. I started my working life as an Electrician working my way up through several trades. I have been away from my vocational skills for such a long period of time that I will now call upon skilled persons to undertake work on my house. Admitted I watch them like a hawk but I have had to accept that things have trod on a march since I was last "
hands on"
.

I feel I keep plugging the same theme but as some TV presenter once said "
Be safe out there"

Nice one Tony couldn't agree more your life is more important than a few nb/£/$ etc.

Tony well pointed out,just to bring people up to date in the industry there is now cscs cards which every body wanting to get a job on a building sight must have it is also link to a colour card to show there category whether its project managing or machine operator or just a labourer it covers every trade ,to get this you must take a test for HSE but without you are jobless ,any party that wants to read up on all the problems regarding safety go on to the Internet and type HSE all will be revelled sorry to come on just thought it would help people understand further dangers that are out there.Bye for now taking a break

bapps wrote:

Tony well pointed out,just to bring people up to date in the industry there is now cscs cards which every body wanting to get a job on a building sight must have it is also link to a colour card to show there category whether its project managing or machine operator or just a labourer it covers every trade ,to get this you must take a test for HSE but without you are jobless ,any party that wants to read up on all the problems regarding safety go on to the Internet and type HSE all will be revelled sorry to come on just thought it would help people understand further dangers that are out there.Bye for now taking a break

Don't be sorry to come on here you are a member of this forum as well as anybody else

I'm not sure what the cscs abbreviation stands for (as you might or might not no I hate them) but for anyone else reading this HSE is Health &
Safety Executive.

Theres diy and diy like Tony said get the Professional in,we can all play change a plug fix a leaking radiator,but major jobs get the guys in that know what they are doing,Tony is a retired electric an so he knows what he is talking about,don't take chances,

Sorry Tony CSCS stands for construction skills certificate scheme if you type cscs it brings you up with the current requirement for sight work

Thank you bapps I thought as much. But can everyone understand that if there is confusion from those of us that are supposed to be in the "
know"
Then what hope is there for the pure armature.

DIY DON"
T INJURE YOURSELF.

I understand Tony what you are saying this is why i have added to your thread.the problem is unless you are involved with every day maters that the industry brings including Regs this info may shed some light as you can read it,all information on this topic is on this sight glad to help

DIY dangers can turn home improvement from a source of fun and satisfaction into a nightmare of health hazards. Common home improvement safety mistakes include inadequate lung, hand, eye, and ear protection while you're working and something you wouldn't think of thats why its always bets to get in someone who knows and is fully trained in all aspects of the trade they do with all certificates that are relevant and uptodate, no matter where you live in the world, ask yourself "
can I really take that chance"

cheekychops wrote:

DIY dangers can turn home improvement from a source of fun and satisfaction into a nightmare of health hazards. Common home improvement safety mistakes include inadequate lung, hand, eye, and ear protection while you're working and something you wouldn't think of thats why its always bets to get in someone who knows and is fully trained in all aspects of the trade they do with all certificates that are relevant and uptodate, no matter where you live in the world, ask yourself "
can I really take that chance"

Some people will call out electricians to change a light bulb as they don't know how to do it! I'm not that bad and can even wire a plug. However, anything else I would leave to the professionals - such as changing light switches, sockets, any rewiring, etc. Despite that, I have almost been killed twice by electricity - the first time was many years ago in the basement of a very damp market where I just switched the light on and got a major shock because of water penetration into the electrics. The second time was abroad, in a rented apartment, when I got onto a table to change a light bulb - got a major shock just unscrewing the lightbulb because of faulty wiring, which knocked me off the table. So, even if you don't do silly things such as re-wiring when you're not a professional, you can still be at significant risk.

I had some garden wall lights put in last summer, by someone i have known for years. done many many jobs over the years, really pleased with all the work and trusted. some friends came over and we got talking, i said i was going to have more lights put in the car port, he being an electrician started looking which way to feed a power line to the car port. thats when he found all my garden lights were live, yes live . an accident waiting to happen.

It goes without saying, you need the right person for the right job. no exceptions.

tonyb60 wrote:

There has been a lot of chat of late about doing the odd DIY project.

My best recommendation on this is a very firm DON'T.

In my training to become a Health &
Safety Professional we had to learn the good and bad practices that have been apparent in the past. There is (maybe was)a place called the Health &
Safety Exhibition in Horseferry Road in London, in this place there is book called "
Book 13"
. In this book there are pictures of the results of mal/ bad practice. Some;
not all resulted in death. It was an eye opener and I'm not going to inform you all of some of the stupid things that have been done. As a result of some the acts of bad practice people were prosecuted and some sent to prison. I'm not going to stop anyone on here from giving good advice. But I must repeat yet again if you are Not qualified in the task that you are thinking of having done then seek advice and get a quote from a professional. Electricity, Heating, Ventilation and all other types of work have there inherent dangers. Electricity can KILL, Hot water can scaled maybe resulting in death. This is not meant as scare tactics but please be careful. I know one or two of you will say this is not the UK. But the end results are always the same when something goes wrong, there is injury or death. I started my working life as an Electrician working my way up through several trades. I have been away from my vocational skills for such a long period of time that I will now call upon skilled persons to undertake work on my house. Admitted I watch them like a hawk but I have had to accept that things have trod on a march since I was last "
hands on"
.

I feel I keep plugging the same theme but as some TV presenter once said "
Be safe out there"

Thanks Tony

Oddy

While i think DIY is ok then you have to be confident in what you do,most diy people will just have a go,some will take the time to look on the internet and get all the info they can,but remember when you mess with electric gas ect you are taking a big chance

I know someone who went to Bulgaria a in 2007 bought a house and thought he would do it all himself and along the way he got a serious electric shock which he then ended up in hospital and the doctors telling him he had some serious burns internally, anyway he was allowed out after a couple of days but 2 days after that he suffered a massive heart attack and died prior to this he was perfectly healthy,. As far as I'm concerned this is all because he was trying to do it all himself without the knowledge of the professionals and the skills. Now ask yourself it it worth the risk???

I would say no to the DIY trades man as well . Bulgaria is full of them .