An interactive video promoting awareness of Part P of the Building Regulations – the legislation that protects people from unsafe electrical work in the home – has been launched by safety charity Electrical Safety First:
The video, entitled ‘The Life of the Party’, shows why it is always best and safest practice to use a registered contractor for such work, and its interactivity means that viewers can select a narrative resulting in either (for example) a successful children’s party or a potentially fatal fire.
The show starts with a mother and her daughter returning from shopping with party supplies, to find dad making a cuppa for an electrician working on a consumer unit in a cupboard….or is he about to do the work himself – unskilled though he is? Well, that’s up to the viewers…
…they can – simply by pressing ‘P’ on their computer keyboard - either ask a registered electrical installer or electrician to do the work, or get ‘dad’ to do it himself, DIY style.
The trouble is, there are two very different outcomes, as might be anticipated in a real life scenario along these lines.
Dad’s effort results in smoke pouring out of the cupboard, while the professional installer’s competent work ensures that his daughter’s party will goes off on time and in complete safety.
Commented Emma Apter, Head of Communications at Electrical Safety First: “We created the video in response to research which showed that a massive 80% of people were unaware that certain jobs in the home must legally be undertaken either by a registered electrician, or signed off by a Local Authority’s Building Control.
“Our Part P campaign highlights the fact that doing electrical DIY can not only be illegal but also dangerous – sometimes fatally so,” she concluded.