January sees the publication of a draft industry scheme for the assessment of electrical contracting firms. Phil Buckle gives us an idea of what’s to come.

You will have read in this and other publications, of the development of an industry scheme for the assessment of technical competence of electrical contracting enterprises.

There has been a lot of talk concerning this scheme and the implications it will have for our industry. Concern has been expressed over the implications to the future safety of electrical installation work in the UK. These concerns are based on the fact that the existing arrangements will change for the inspection of electrical contracting enterprises.

Through the introduction of the industry scheme there will be the opportunity for approval bodies, other than those already established, to assess contractors to common standards. The concern that electrical safety will be jeopardised is unfounded as bodies wishing to undertake technical assessments will have to be accredited by UKAS. The primary standard against which accreditation will be conferred is likely to be EN 45011, supported by this scheme when published.

This is of course a major shift in the way things are done in the UK. An immediate benefit of requiring bodies to be accredited by UKAS is that assessments will be undertaken to a common standard in a consistent fashion.

Contractors will, therefore, be able to choose who they apply to for assessment as it will be the scheme’s criteria that will be recognised, not the accredited body that undertakes the assessment.

There will also be the opportunity for accredited bodies to establish mutual recognition agreements with one another. The benefit of this is that contractors will not be subject to the possibility of multiple assessments for the range of work they undertake.

The catalyst for change

Contractors will not be subject to the possibility of multiple assessments for the range of work they undertake

The development of the industry scheme was not the whim of a few industry organisations that had nothing better to do.

Prompted by a number of Government initiatives, it was recognised that it would be necessary to develop a standard set of criteria that could be applied in a consistent manner across all these initiatives.

The key developments within Government were: self-certification in the Building Regulations; electrical safety in the Building Regulations and the Quality Mark scheme.

In response to these initiatives the Electrical Industry Installation Liaison Committee formed a Working Group to establish the requirements of the scheme.

This group was made up of organisations with a direct involvement or interests in the industry’s activities. To ensure that the Working Group properly represented the sector, UKAS was approached for an opinion, and confirmed that there was adequate representation.

The draft scheme, which has been approximately a year in development, must now be offered out for public consultation. This will give an opportunity to all those it affects to provide an opinion to the Working Group. The intention is to release the draft for comment on 18 January 2000.

Assessment Criteria

  • The scheme sets minimum requirements for electrical contracting firms working in areas defined by European Specification ES 59004
  • An electrical contractor is qualified to undertake work in the categories where it has received a satisfactory assessment;
  • If a contractor sublets work from a category for which it has not been positively assessed, it must be assessed as competent in general contracting duties for the work it is subletting;
  • Sublet work should be undertaken by a contractor who has been assessed as qualified for those work categories;
  • If an electrical contractor carries out work in categories in which it has not been assessed as competent, such work should be certified by an electrical contractor who has been assessed as competent in that particular category;
  • The contractor shall have current editions of technical reference documents appropriate to the work undertaken;
  • The contractor shall have adequate test instruments, appropriate to the work undertaken;
  • The contractor shall issue certificates for all work carried out;
  • The contractor shall hold £2 million of public liability insurance for each category of work assessed;
  • The maximum period between assessments will be three years.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor

Postscript

Phil Buckle is head of technical services at the ECA and secretary of the EIILC Working Group that has produced the draft industry assessment scheme.