Are the bloody Regs statutory or not?

[Deuce]

The court is not an expert in most things really, that's why they call witnesses who are experts. It's a normal practice. I am guessing we would be in chaos pretty quickly if courts made important judgements based on no professional knowledge.

Yes but in the end the court makes the decision. It's unlikely that in the time allowed the final decision maker(s) could really understand enough about what was said by any party to really appreciate the technicalities. It's fine if it's an obvious contravention of safe working practice. But many cases will be far more complicated.

 

[johnduffell]

Yes but in the end the court makes the decision. It's unlikely that in the time allowed the final decision maker(s) could really understand enough about what was said by any party to really appreciate the technicalities. It's fine if it's an obvious contravention of safe working practice. But many cases will be far more complicated.

I realise there are time pressures but the judicial system is mostly set up to avoid miscarriages of justice. The legal system gets a bad name due to ambulance chasers getting settlements out of court before hand.
by way of example of the legal process trying harder where things are more complex the Grenfell tower inquiry (part 1 of 2) has been sitting for about 6 months so far, and has heard evidence from academics and other experts on various aspects of the situation.
To be honest you could have a perfectly bs7671 compliant installation and given the number of debates on here there's a good chanch the prosecution could find an electrician to give it codes left right and centre.
And on top of that even the regs allow deviations.

 

[Deuce]

I realise there are time pressures but the judicial system is mostly set up to avoid miscarriages of justice. The legal system gets a bad name due to ambulance chasers getting settlements out of court before hand.
by way of example of the legal process trying harder where things are more complex the Grenfell tower inquiry (part 1 of 2) has been sitting for about 6 months so far, and has heard evidence from academics and other experts on various aspects of the situation.
To be honest you could have a perfectly bs7671 compliant installation and given the number of debates on here there's a good chanch the prosecution could find an electrician to give it codes left right and centre.
And on top of that even the regs allow deviations.

That's prety much my point. I may have worded it badly reading back...

But in essence if it's truly safe, you won't have to argue your case in the first place.

The regs exist so that people without the common sense to work safely have a framework they can simply adhere too. It's in the book = safe.

But I would argue that the safest person of all is the one that respects the books, but is ultimately driven by their own knowledge of what is safe, and why.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Personally, to summarise, I would say that there is 'The Law'. which you have to comply with. Then there are a subset of 'Regulations' and 'Standards' etc. that you have to adhere to, to comply with 'The Law'.

eg, if you left a naked live cable flapping around, you're guilty!
i.e. there is no law, as such, that you can leave a bare live cable for anyone to touch, but you'd be going down if they did!

 

[johnduffell]

Personally, to summarise, I would say that there is 'The Law'. which you have to comply with

Correct

Then there are a subset of 'Regulations' and 'Standards' etc. that you have to adhere to, to comply with 'The Law'.

Depends if the regulations are statutory eg the gas regs are but the electrical regs aren't.

there is no law, as such, that you can leave a bare live cable for anyone to touch

Correct, building regs would be less relevant here, that would come under negligence laws even assuming it wasn't done intentionally to cause a danger.

 

[oracle]

Memorandum of Guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulation is also supportive. Why don't they make the whole lot Statutory

 

[oracle]

Memorandum of Guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulation is also supportive. Why don't they make the whole lot Statutory, included in the main body of text ?