Heads out the sand

OK, the honeymoon is over – today we start work on the new Euro-Standards, like it or not. I have no doubt that a great many of you were thinking the same as I was ... “We knew that the time was fast approaching when we would have to abandon the old BS4737 and start working to the new improved Euro-Standard BS EN 50131 but tomorrow will do, we don’t have to do it just yet, there’s plenty of time ...”

Well, the standards people (British and Continental) have just pulled the rug out from under us. As of September just gone and in line with their agreement to follow the CENELEC rules the British Standards Institute has deleted BS 4737 from its list of current standards, and according to theory you cannot buy it any more.

On the other hand, I may have misled you slightly on this. The old standard 4737 is still available if you know the right place to go and the right questions to ask. The NSI support services can still get them and sell them on to its enrolled and applicant companies at a modest discount, and I presume the same goes for the SSAIB, (I cannot see the BSI selling to one and not the other).

However there are problems to withdrawing the standards at this time. Even though we are facing the new standards we are still going to be dealing with old systems installed to the old standards for the next ten years, AND, we still have the period of parallel running of the two standards ... until next September.

So, does this put the industry and the inspectorates in a strange position? Now that it has been deleted can the inspectorates seriously ask any new company looking for recognition to buy the old standard? And, if they can now no longer be asked to buy the old standard, can the inspectorates in all fairness still inspect to BS 4737 for new companies not holding a copy of that standard?

This in turn leads to other pertinent questions – the British Standards are copyright so the inspectorates have never been able to accept photocopies of the standards (It would mean they were seen to be condoning an illegal act).

However, even if the BSI themselves have withdrawn the standard, we should not turn a blind eye and start accepting photocopies for the odd few months that are left.

Since the BSI started to produce their standards “off the computer” and not in the old large print runs, producing proper folded and stapled copies, photocopies have looked a lot less obvious.

With the current very high quality of photocopier reproduction available it is now getting difficult to see the fakes among the originals.

At this point it is totally unfair to blame the British Standards Institution and put the onus on the inspectorates. We have to hold our hands up and admit that we (the installers) are guilty of complacency big time. We have known the new standards were coming for years and have done nothing about it. I do not know of one company that is yet installing to the new standard, and now we are facing our come-uppance, we should have pulled our fingers out a long time ago.

Anyway, by the time this gets published we may have some of the answers. At some point (at the very latest next October) it looks as though the inspectorates are going to have to put their foot down and start insisting on the change over to the new standards, and that means that you are finally going to have to buy a copy – and that itself is fraught with problems.

The new 50131 part 1 has been out for over five years and is currently under review, the latest “Draft for Comment” is currently doing the rounds both at home and abroad and is, hopefully, going to be with us next year. However, knowing the time it takes to get round both ourselves and our continental colleagues, the real answer is “Don’t hold your breath”. In the meantime the question is: Do we buy the old one now or wait until the new one comes, (you are going to have to buy the new one later on anyway)? This in turn leaves a question for the inspectorates and the training establishments who are currently offering (or hoping to offer) courses on the new standard. Do they go ahead and offer training, which may have to change in the near future, or wait and see what the new revised issue brings?

All the time we are sitting and wondering, the hourglass has been turned and time is running out. The worst case scenario is the one where they introduce the revised edition just at the time when the parallel running time expires next October and we are left with just a matter of weeks to buy the new one, get trained and start working to the new Standard. There is always the possibility that the parallel running time will be extended yet again but we cannot keep putting it back forever. I think the expression is between a brick and a hard place.

My heart goes out to the newcomers. Many of the lads that are buying the standards are small companies looking for recognition and are finding it hard going anyway. Inspectorate recognition is costly enough, and the product and efficacy insurance has gone through the roof without wasting money on standards that are going to be out of date in a few months time. Don’t forget, the new 50131 is not yet complete so we have to buy PD 6662 which is an enabling document to enable us to install to BS EN 50131 and they, in turn, call up various parts of BS 4737. It all gets very confusing.

It would be unwise of me to offer you advice or even suggestion at this point, but you need to be aware of the options. However, if really pushed, my own gut reaction is to bite the bullet and change as soon as possible. Then you will not be caught napping when the you-know-what hits the fan next October.

Moving sideways

I have had a change of position in the NSI. I am no longer the Network Manager North, I am now the Silver Systems Support Manager.

I don’t know of one company that is yet installing to the new standard ... now we’re facing our come-uppance

No, it is not promotion in the normal sense of the word. It’s just that when you look at my background – Installer, (over 1,000 systems), company owner, alarm salesman, inspector and tutor/trainer of alarm installation, locksmithing and sales and marketing courses, it just makes sense to put this experience where it is needed most – introducing new and up and coming companies to the requirements of inspectorate recognition. I enjoy the job so I asked for it and got it. The gist of the job is to go round talking to companies that are thinking of treading the inspectorate path and explaining just what they have to do to get there. In many respects I have to be very careful, to stay compliant with UKAS rules I am allowed to tell a company what they need to do but NOT allowed to tell them how to do it. As first this may sound like a daft rule. if they don’t know how to do it then how are they going to comply if the inspectorates don’t tell them? And – if it is the inspectorate that is going to come back and decide whether a company is compliant or not – who better to tell them how to do it? But the rule was made for a good reason.

Inspecting his own work

If an inspector was to say “Look, this is how you do it”, then when the same inspector goes back later to inspect the company, he is, in effect, inspecting his own work and not that of the company. At that point he has ceased to become a totally independent and impartial inspector. I mean you wouldn’t even think about going to a driving examiner and saying, “Teach me to drive!” No, you get a copy of the Highway Code and go to a driving school. THEN the totally impartial examiner tests you to see if you have learned you stuff.

As far as our industry is concerned we have our own highway code – the British Standards – and we have the training schools to teach you how to fit to those standards. For the larger companies we even extend this to the management. We have ISO 9001-2000 as the management standard and we have a whole raft of industry consultants that we can pull in to teach us how to put that standard into use. Then there are the UKAS accredited auditing bodies who will come and test your management skills and, if you are compliant, give you that all-important bit of paper to prove it.

By the way – as an aside to this I still see a lot of companies, (in all trades, not just ours) putting their UKAS Crown and tick logo on their vans. Beware – this is not allowed. This is a UKAS ruling (not the inspectorates’) so don’t blame them.

The big gap, however, is for the smaller companies who are looking to get inspectorate recognition. For those, it is not viable to call in a management consultant and there are no training courses (I know of) to teach management of a small security company. This will be a part of my job, but I can only tell them what they should be doing and not how it should be done. UKAS rules are rules and I’m not allowed to step over the line.

As an installer going for recognition in my own company all those years ago, I remember the trepidation I felt when the inspector was due for my first inspection. I had no idea in any way what he was going to ask and look for, both on systems and on paperwork, and this is still the same today.

In reality, now that I have seen the situation from both sides of the fence, I know that the inspectorates are only asking for what you should be doing for yourself. Do the job right, make proper records and above all else – cover your back.

To help the proceedings along I have just completed writing a self-help manual that does just that. It tells a company what they need to do to gain recognition. It even gives examples of different acceptable ways and methods but it stops short of saying “this is how you do it”.

The manual is under review before it can be put out as an official NSI Support Services Ltd document but I’m hoping it will be finished by the end of the year. If all goes well, it will take the uncertainty out of getting your company compliant.

Power struggle at the wheel

I've been toying with the idea of buying a satellite navigation system for the car. Almost every company I visit is a new company and has to be found. I was enthusing about it to my wife and telling her that there is a screen that shows you a little map of how to get there ...

“I can't be watching a map and driving at the same time," she said.

"No you don't need to. They also have a woman's voice telling you what lane to get in and where to turn," I replied.

"I am not having some other woman telling me where to go in my own car," said she. "And what happens if I disagree with her?"

I have a feeling this is going to be a hard sell!