knthrak

Acquired real life knowledge from the field always carries more weight than a spoon fed classroom education in my opinion but that does not mean that acquired knowledge is bang on the nose every time. Often people develop there own way of doing things based on what they have seen and done and never know why it is done that particular way therefore they never realise just how that method could be totally wrong when other factors are introduced. I have seen it many times, people believe they are right when everything they think they know as fact is actually only half right. A little bit of knowledge is dangerous.

I agree with what you are saying to a point. Certification does not guarantee good workmanship or professional standards of work being maintained. What it does give you is protection against litigation. A company working to the standards is bound by contract and required by law to comply with these standards and opens themselves up to prosecution if they don't. I'm not questioning your abilities or your workmanship. However, without training in the relevant areas how can you ever know that any of your work is compliant or indeed safe. I have personally seen devices wired incorrectly that have worked for years though they were in fact lethal.

Building regs are more concerned with installation and modification of the building. ie, lighting, ventilation, power and ancillary supplies. Electrical regs are a specific area concerned with the electrical aspects of a build. patch cables and picture hooks are not part of this scope.

Incorrect segregation of cable across multiple phased zones can create a difference of potential between devices which means 415V is potentially present under a fault condition. Additionally all network cables should now be Low smoke, zero halogen to prevent death from fumes in fire situations.

Disease A little bit of knowledge is dangerous and unless you have obtained all the relevant British standards concerning building regulations and become fully conversant with all existing requirements and the numerous amendments you are not competent to conduct any installation work within your building. You need to show total compliance with BS7671, the IEE 16th Edition Wiring Regulations to undertake any electrical installation. There is a big difference between being able to do something and being competent and legally authorized to do it. Just because you can get a cable from A – B and connect it correctly at each end does not make it correct. Even if you are getting good test results from it does not mean that it is safe or correctly installed. Your argument “What sort of Guarantee do you give the school that Active Directory will work fine” is a fair point but not compelling as Active directory doesn’t have the capacity to kill the end users when it goes wrong.