Acorn Stairlifts News

Welcome to Acorn Stairlifts News Section. Explore our blog for impactful resources, insightful articles, personal reflections and ideas that inspire action on the topics you care about.

Don’t let your Bank Holiday DIY end in a trip to A&E!

12:00am | & Lifestyle

This weekend’s Spring Bank Holiday for once promises warmth and sunshine, so it would be a shame to spend part of it inside your local hospital’s A&E Department!

Unfortunately, hospitals always see a spike in visits to A&E on bank holidays, and especially this one, which traditionally heralds the start of the enthusiastic homeowners’ ‘Do-It-Yourself’ season.

With winter finally behind us there’s an urge to make a start on all those little home maintenance jobs we’ve been putting off through the long dark months, especially the outdoor ones. For many it means dusting off the toolbox, taking a trip to the DIY store and rolling up our sleeves confident of doing a first class job.

Sadly, many people’s DIY ambitions are not matched by their DIY abilities, and a significant minority will end up feeling the financial and even physical pain of a DIY disaster. Dealing with falls, trips, sprains, broken bones, cuts, grazes, burns, glued fingers and worse, many UK health professionals will spend this weekend dispensing care to the nation’s home improvement amateurs.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of DIY, just as long as you recognise your limits and plan ahead. Here are a few things to consider if you’re doing a spot of DIY this bank holiday weekend:

  • Is the job you’re planning really within your capabilities? Do you know what you’re doing?
  • Think about what could go wrong – could you cope with the worst case scenario? For example, what if you drill through a water pipe?
  • Plan out every stage of the job in detail. It’s no good getting half-way through then realising you don’t know what comes next.
  • Do you have the right tools and materials for the job? Trying to ‘bodge’ something with the wrong tools is just asking for an accident or a less-than-satisfactory end result.
  • Are your tools in good, serviceable condition? This is especially important if you’re trusting your personal safety to a piece of kit? Is that old ladder really safe to climb on?
  • Will you need help? Some jobs need more than one pair of hands. Is there someone you can call on when you need a lift, instead of trying (and failing?) to go it alone?
  • Have you done this job before? If you have no personal experience of a particular job, it’s worthwhile spending some time researching it in a good DIY manual or online. There are lots of helpful ‘how to’ videos on YouTube covering a wide range of jobs.

Even if you can ‘tick all these boxes’, there are some jobs that should never be DIY. For example, any work involving gas appliances or pipes must, by law, be carried out by a fully qualified and registered tradesman. Don’t even think about doing this yourself!

Similarly, jobs involving home electrics are really best left to an expert. Qualified electricians have a huge bank of experience, knowledge and training to call on, ensuring they do a job which is safe now and for the future. If you get it wrong with electricity, the consequences can be serious, even fatal. Is the small saving you might make worth the massive risk you might take?

According to Electrical Safety First, the leading charity for electrical safety, almost half of all electric shocks described as severe are the result of a DIY error. Each year around 12,500 house fires, 750 serious injuries and 10 deaths are caused by unsafe electrics in the home.

Darren Staniforth is Technical Development Manager of NICEIC, which keeps a national register of approved electricians. He said: “While it’s all well and good adding a new lick of paint, it’s important that over-zealous homeowners don’t get too carried away and, for example, have a go at seemingly ‘simple’ electrical work themselves at the same time.

“Unfortunately, this is something that we have started to see a lot of in recent years, with the bank holidays being a prime time for electrical mishaps – the consequences of which, not just in terms of cost, are vast.”

So remember, if you’re planning a spot of DIY this weekend, put the emphasis on the ‘planning’ and be realistic about what you can successfully achieve. Above all, don’t end up nursing an injury and looking at a ‘half-finished botch job’. To find a registered electrician in your area, click here.

« Back to News Index