NAPIT’s scheme is modular and UKAS approval so far relates only to the portable appliance testing unit as well as the two core knowledge units that underpin the scheme.
NAPIT is seeking an extension of scope of accreditation to the remaining units, which include power circuits, lighting and emergency systems such as fire alarms, at the beginning of February, with the ultimate aim of getting the scheme allied to the Building Regulations.
NAPIT’s individual competence scheme draws it into conflict with both the ECA and NICEIC, who support the idea of competent enterprises. “One initial criterion was that any scheme must be based upon individual competence as NAPIT did not, and still does not, subscribe to the concept, prevalent in many areas of the electrical industry, that competence could be anything but individual,” says NAPIT’s technical director John Andrews. “If NAPIT had involved either of these two bodies [the ECA and the NICEIC] early in the scheme’s development, because of our differences in philosophy, our scheme would never have been completed.”
The ECA has attacked what it sees as a very limited consultation exercise over the scheme (see Dec/Jan, p5). A questionnaire sent out on 26 September last year required responses by 5 October. “An incredible 94% of responses were in favour of the adoption of such a scheme,” claims Andrews.
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
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