Leader

By the first of September this year the current British Standards will have been replaced by these 'ENs' ... and with all the emphasis having been thrown onto the ACPO Policy and DD243, these changes haven't had much of the spotlight. They are, however, highly significant for installation companies. The Euro Standard EN50131 (those digits will soon become as familiar as DD243!) throws much more emphasis on risk assessment and it will introduce the grading of systems ... altogether very much more structured than the current British Standards.

From this month we start a series looking at EN50131 in close-up (See page 29). Many readers of our DD243 series kept all the parts for reference and I'm sure many readers will also want to keep this series. This month's article ends on an encouraging note from writers, Martin Kane and Geoff Tate: "Take heart ... if you are familiar with British Standards you will have little trouble in getting to grips with the new EN standards." However, another aspect of the standard may initially worry some engineers and their proprietors ... Unlike the British Standards, the new EN demands that all technicians – young and old – must be qualified. Anyone carrying out risk assessments, designing, installing or repairing systems must hold an appropriate qualification.

I'm sure a lot of proprietors were unaware of this aspect of the EN. They will now be thinking about the implications for their older engineers who have been doing a good job for years without qualifications. Proprietors who have been burying their heads in the sand will now have to get to grips with training all their staff. But it may not be as difficult or costly as they might think. As George Mullaly comments in the second part of our training feature "Big benefits to be had" (page 27): "It is possible for experienced staff to obtain these necessary qualifications without their employer having to bear the cost of time at college. These staff can submit details of three installations they have undertaken and then be assessed by a college assessor while in the field. So there really isn't a cost-based argument why older engineers shouldn't become qualified."