How to fit a Gira switch
Updated: October 2026
The dangerous first move is to unscrew a Gira switch because the rocker is already off. The conductors behind a lighting plate stay live until someone competent locks off the only feed and proves them dead. How to fit a Gira switch, for a like-for-like replacement, is that order and the point where you stop. It is not a wiring diagram for every house, and it is not a ranking of the four amazon.co.uk listings. The four saved listings are on the [Gira switch comparison](/hub/electrical-equipment/gira-switch). and it does not make you competent.
The dangerous first move is to unscrew a Gira switch because the rocker is already off. The conductors behind a lighting plate stay live until someone competent locks off the only feed and proves them dead.
The dangerous first move is to unscrew a Gira switch because the rocker is already off. The conductors behind a lighting plate stay live until someone competent locks off the only feed and proves them dead. How to fit a Gira switch, for a like-for-like replacement, is that order and the point where you stop. It is not a wiring diagram for every house, and it is not a ranking of the four amazon.co.uk listings. The four saved listings are on the Gira switch comparison. and it does not make you competent.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Article | Mounting | Terminals | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Gira Gira 417630 switch and Schuko socket | Rocker and Schuko | Vertical | SCHUKO | 7.2 | about £39.22 | View offer |
 Gira Gira 012600 tactile switch insert | Flush push insert | Flush, 28 mm | Screw | 0.0 | about £21.03 | View offer | |
 Gira Gira 010730 surface rocker | Surface rocker | Wall mount | Not printed | 0.0 | about £21.02 | View offer |
On this page
Off is not isolated
Turning the rocker off only opens the switch. It does not remove the supply, and it does not prove that this plate is the only way the circuit is fed. The Health and Safety Executive’s secure-isolation checks are the sequence that matters: a suitable isolator, a check that the isolator works, confirmation that it is the only feed, a lock on that isolator, a voltage test that itself works, and then a confirmation that the circuit is dead. You keep the only key. A written notice on the consumer unit is not a lock. If you are not competent to do those checks, watch a competent person do them. Do not start at the terminal screws.
Prove the conductors dead
Prove dead at the point of work, not at the consumer unit door. Electrical Safety First’s best-practice guide, and HSE GS38, point to a test lamp or a two-pole voltage detector that you prove before and after the measurement. A non-contact stick and an ordinary multimeter are not the advised voltage test for this job. You are checking that line, neutral and the protective conductor are dead at the switch. If the tester does not prove, you do not have a result. If you cannot carry out that test, you stop. IP44 on a surface programme, and a hinged lid on a combination unit, are splash notes. They are not permission to work in a bath or shower zone.
What is notifiable in England
Approved Document P, the 2013 edition published on GOV.UK, draws a paperwork line that people mix up with a safety line. In England, notifiable work includes a new circuit, a replacement consumer unit, and an addition or alteration in the special location around a bath or shower. Paragraph 2.7 treats the rest, including replacements, repairs and maintenance anywhere, as not notifiable. Not notifiable means you do not send that job through the building-control notification route. It does not mean the conductors are safe to touch. Scotland and Northern Ireland do not inherit this English flowchart unchanged.
Insert, frame and a surface housing
A System 55 insert is not a one-piece British plate. On a modular stack the insert does the switching, the frame is the surround, and the rocker is the face. The 28 mm installation depth on the 012600 sheet is the insert, not a rule for the whole box. There is no Gira connection diagram in the sources used here, so there is no brown-and-blue sequence to copy onto your conductors. If the old plate is a single British moulding and the new part is only an insert, you are not doing like-for-like until the frame, the rocker and the box all match. Article types are on the Gira switch buying guide.
Where you stop
Stop and use a competent person when you cannot lock off the only feed, when you cannot prove the conductors dead, when the work is a new circuit or a consumer-unit change, or when the switch is in the bath or shower zone described above. Stop as well when the new article is not the same circuit as the old one. Changing a 1-way for an intermediate, or adding a socket, is not a like-for-like replacement however similar the rocker looks.
Common questions
What does prove dead mean at a light switch?
It means a test lamp or a two-pole detector, proved before and after, on the line, neutral and protective conductors at the switch itself. Electrical Safety First and GS38 do not treat a non-contact stick or an ordinary multimeter as that test. If the tester fails its own check, you have not proved anything. You refit nothing and you do not touch the terminals while you fetch a different meter.
Is a like-for-like Gira replacement notifiable in England?
Replacements, repairs and maintenance are not notifiable under Approved Document P, including a like-for-like accessory change. A new circuit, a replacement consumer unit, and work in the bath or shower special location are notifiable. Not notifiable is still live work until the conductors are proved dead. The ECA note makes the same split: the paperwork changed, the isolation did not.
What if the switch is next to a bath or shower?
In England the special location runs 0.6 m out from the bath or tray and up to 2.25 m, or higher if the shower head is higher. An addition or alteration there is notifiable. IP44 on a Gira surface programme, or a hinged lid, does not move that boundary and does not authorise you to work in it. Treat that plate as a competent-person job.
Does the same rule apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
This flowchart is England’s Approved Document P. Scotland and Northern Ireland do not inherit it unchanged, and this page does not state their notification rules. Isolation and proving dead are not an English quirk. If you are outside England, use the rule that applies where the building is, and do not copy the not-notifiable sentence across the border.
Can I add the Hue control and leave the old switch alone?
Yes, that is the case Senic separates from electrical work: fixing their kinetic control with adhesive, or seating it in a suitable frame, while the hard-wired switch stays. The moment you remove that hard-wired switch, you are fitting a mains accessory again. The Hue page covers the Bridge and the rocker. This page covers the conductors.
Related pages
Sources
Public sources from the research digest, with shelf prices and star lines from the amazon.co.uk files saved on 21 October 2026. Catalogue prices quoted excluding VAT are Gira’s January 2026 UK list, not shop prices.
- Gira UK data sheet 010730, intermediate surface switch (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Gira UK data sheet 012600, flush insert (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Gira data sheet 417630, switch and Schuko socket (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Gira UK data sheet 277603, BS 1363 socket (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Approved Document P, electrical safety in dwellings (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE: work near electricity and secure isolation (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Senic support: Philips Hue Bridge V2 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, GOV.UK (retrieved 21 October 2026)