At the ECA annual dinner, president Ian Crosby championed the Association's work and called for a continued effort to work together for the good of the industry.
Last year the Association launched a series of events and activities to celebrate its centenary. These proved successful, and have helped to promote the electrical installation industry's essential and growing contribution to everyday life.

As part of these celebrations we published a history of the Association, which emphasised that many of its principal achievements have resulted from its good working relationships with the Government and other related groups.

At my inauguration last April I took 'working together' as the theme for my term of office, and we are working together now with other parties to improve the recognition and reward of qualified individuals and businesses within the engineering and building services industries.

The most immediate requirement is to ensure that our present National Working Rules are developed to reflect the needs and realities of the market. Discussions have begun and will seek to build upon the long constructive relationship we have enjoyed with our union colleagues at Amicus, formerly the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

Obviously, the complex network and nature of the relationships that such discussions affect mean that the consultative process must be thorough and, by definition, time consuming.

Unfortunately time is not on our side, as an increasing demand for our services is compounded by a potential skills shortage, resulting from population and social changes. The challenge is to interest, attract and retain good, young people into our industry at all levels.

The Government's policies to strengthen occupational training and education in schools, and its proposed development of broader and better resourced Sector Skills Councils as successors to existing industry based National Training Organisations, will help. The ECA is also working together with other industry bodies to establish a Sector Skills Council for the engineering and building services market.

The challenge is to interest, attract and retain good, young people into our industry at all levels

An essential aspect of training and company management is site safety. This year the ECA will roll out its Zero Accident Potential (ZAP) initiative. This was launched in October 2001 and is set out in a simple publication to assist construction contractors to review and reinvigorate existing health and safety practices.

Last December the ECA was also pleased to agree the affiliation of its Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS) to the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS). Both schemes provide an identification card setting out the formal occupational qualification of the holder, together with their photograph.

The ECA introduced the ECS card in 1999 and over 70 000 have been issued to date. A revised card showing the CSCS affiliation will be available this month.

The ECS card is accepted on all sites requiring CSCS- affiliated cards. This is a major opportunity for the industry to support qualified individuals and to bring beneficial influence into the labour market. Please support the ECS scheme.

The ECA is also working together with the other representative bodies of the electrical installation industry to produce a single scheme for the periodic technical assessment of electrical installation businesses. Pilot tests of the draft Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme will be completed in the coming weeks. This has the potential to form the basis for a wider qualification process, including the criteria required within a number of developing national schemes. All of this work is intended to identify and promote the interests of qualified and accountable contractors of all sizes for the benefit of their clients.

I urge all of those seeking to qualify the technical competence of electrical contractors to adopt the Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme when it becomes available later this year.

An increasing demand for our services is compounded by a potential skills shortage, resulting from population and social changes

Unfortunately, present procurement practices within the construction industry do not generally recognise quality and value, but continue to favour the lowest priced tender bid with all its attendant problems. Over the past decade the ECA has worked together with government and others to promote a more enlightened approach. At present the impetus for this work rests with the Strategic Forum for Construction, which government established last year with Sir John Egan as its chairman.

The present work of the Strategic Forum includes a draft recommendation for the adoption of integrated supply teams. This entails assembling the whole team, including clients, consultants, manufacturers, distributors, contractors and the project's funders, early in the design period on the basis of their capability and commitment to meet the customer's brief.

The full recommendation, including proposals for statutory support for supply chain integration, is set out in a report that is currently being reviewed by the Strategic Forum.

I believe that this and the past activity is helping to change procurement attitudes and behaviour. Inevitably, progress is slow, because of the fragmented and multi-layered nature of the industry.

In this respect, another motivator for change will be e-business. The ECA has worked together with other industry bodies to assist the DTI-sponsored study into the penetration and impact of e-business within the electrical installation industry. When it is published in the coming months it will help to guide the industry's future commitment to e-business, including its ability to integrate information systems within supply teams. The ECA web site also continues to be developed as a useful information point for the industry and includes a register of members.

Behind all of this work is the increasingly awesome power and potential of electrical technologies, which are now central to all engineering and building services installations. The profile and abilities of electrical contractors are changing to reflect this, and many now provide integrated electrical engineering and building services. We have recognised this in the wording that accompanies the latest, and newly released, model of the ECA logo.

Clearly the developing scope and depth of ECA members' services will condition the activities of the Association. They will require it to extend its work constructively with other related industry bodies and institutions in support of all those involved in the provision and use of engineering and building services.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor