# Globe and Mail - Article on 'Plugging in Safely'



## Shabby.JM (Jun 17, 2008)

My boss partook in an ESA meeting yesterday, and apparently there was to be an article in the Globe and Mail today _/Friday October 17th/_ on the crackdown on hiring a licensed electrical contractor in Canada. If anyone could find a link to this article for me, it would be greatly appreciated, I can't find it for the life of me. We would like a copy to be posted in our dispatch office.

The article is supposed to be an attempt at further pushing that if you want electrical work done, you need to get an licensed electrical contractor to do the work, making a clear the difference between the contractors and simply the licensed electricians doing side work. I don't remember if this initiative is supposed to be merely for Ontario, and if it is, what is to follow. 

Thank You for everyone whom takes a stab at finding it.

Please, for those whom may have attended and are reading this, update me or correct me on the details.


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## ACB (Oct 21, 2008)

Yes this is just Ontario, each province is incharge of its regulations and regulating of trades. I have no idea about the article in the globe, but there are some hefty fines to be had by anyone who is not a licenced contractor doing electrical work as well I have heard under certain circumstances even the home owner/customer can be fined.
However this has only put a little dent in the underground industry, (The ESA wont admit to that however) its going on 2 years now and there are still alot of pickup truck hack handimen still doing it, and electricians still doing side jobs. Untill they (the ESA) start handing out the full limit of $50,000 fines instead of just warnings and token fines the side jobber and hack handimen won't stop.
I had a call a couple weeks ago from a small time renovator asking if I would take out a permit for him, seems he did a job in an area where the local building inspector wants to see coppies of all the permits. OOOPS! I offered to bid and do the work, but he already did it, so I said nope, no way am I gonna risk my licence even after he offered me $200 cash to do it,,, no way.

The only way to really slow down the crap is to restrict the sale of materials, (like the TSSA did with furnaces) but I can't see that happening as all the DIY stores would loose money.


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## Shabby.JM (Jun 17, 2008)

Some people actually have hit the $100 000 fine limit apparently, but this is for the electrician's doing side jobs. . . not the home owners. Also, the owners do get penalized. If I'm not mistaken, Home owners can still pull a permit however, it is 3x the cost a contractor could pull it for in addition to, the person that pulls the permit has to do the work denying even immediate family from doing the work. There is also jail time for some people on top of the fine, there's supposed to be like 300-400 cases still in the courts now pertaining to this. 

Also, the DIY stores would still pull revenue on renovation materials, just not electrical. Since home owners may still pull permits, the stores still have a strong market though anyway. In addition to this, there is supposed to be like 540 some Ontario code changes. Their really going crazy with all this.


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## ACB (Oct 21, 2008)

The home owner can get fined for pulling the permit and getting or letting or hiring someone else to do the work, one of the girls at the cambridge office told me its a $5000 fine for the home owner(person who pulled the permit) and a "whatever they determine" fine for the person doing the work, I was not aware that they were going as high as 100,000, I thought I read it was 50,000 max,,,, but hey I have nooooo problem with that, however I have asked about a few that I know got caught and they were only given an official letter of warning, but these guys were just pickup truck hack handimen.

I have written a couple letter to the ESA and a few other stake holder and influential bodies that all have interest in tighter regulation, sudgesting that restrictions on the sale of certain major componants of wiring be placed and enforced, where as if your a licenced contractor you show ID that proves that, so the ESA would have to issue an ID card, and for DIY'rs to purchase they have to show their permit from the ESA. I in no way beleave that even half of the DIY'rs take out permits and get inspections. I have customers show surprise when I say that the work I will be doing requires an inspection, they ask why? "its the law" I respond. I have found alot of people have the attitude that it is their house and they can do as they please and have no intention on paying a hundred bucks for an inspection to put in a couple plugs in their basement.
The DIY craze is growing with the useless help of the likes of home depot so I would suspect that we will see a rise in house fires in the next 10 to 20 years. and I would bet most people think that their insurance company will still pay out when it is discovered the fire was caused by electrical work that was not inspected during the time they owned the house. The best thing that can happen is to put regs in place that ensures that any work that requires a permit is getting the inspection it deserves. starting right at the source, you need materials? wheres your permit?


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