The Government has confirmed its intention to include electrical safety in dwellings, known as Part P, within the scope of the Building Regulations:
This announcement was welcomed by the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) and the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC). The two organisations believe that the proposals will support their joint objective of improving the quality of electrical installation in England and Wales. However, ECA and NICEIC are concerned by the proposals' lack of guidance and potential uncertainty over the preferred route for technical competence assessment.
In a ministerial statement released on 15 July regulatory bodies were urged to submit applications to run a competent persons scheme to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by 15 October this year. The ECA and NICEIC believe that the criteria of the recently introduced UKAS-accredited Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme (EAS) should be the benchmark for all proposed schemes. The technical criteria of the NICEIC's Approved Contractor scheme and the ECA membership requirements are both aligned to the EAS.
Both organisations believe that electrical contractors assessed under the EAS scheme should be deemed competent to self-certify their work. Because the EAS is non-proprietary it means that existing and new certification bodies could compete in offering certification to its standard. This would result in assured consistency of inspection and competitive assessment costs for the contractor.
"It is of great concern that the Government has so far given no clear guidance as to the specification required of competent persons schemes under Part P of the Building Regulations. If the proposals are to proceed to the benefit of the industry and its customers, there must be no confusion. EAS has been successfully developed and implemented by the industry with Government support, and as such it should be recognised as the necessary basis for the required technical competence standard", said David Pollock, Director of the ECA.
The need to provide a benchmark for the technical standard required for any competent persons scheme is essential if safe electrical installation work in England and Wales is to be assured. There is an urgent need for a clear specification of the minimum technical and other criteria for Part P self-certification schemes. In a world of competing certification bodies, this is absolutely essential. Otherwise bad regulation will simply drive out good. It was the need for just such a specification that provided the main rationale for industry.
For further information on the ECA contact:
Steve Newbold, Head of Marketing,
tel: 020 7313 4800,
email: [email protected]
The National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting was founded in 1956, and is the industry's independent, not-for-profit voluntary regulatory body covering the whole of the United Kingdom. It is not a trade association and does not represent the interests of electrical contractors. Its sole purpose is to protect consumers against unsafe and unsound electrical installations. The NICEIC maintains a register of around 11,000 approved contractors and currently employs 54 area engineers.
Contact 020 7654 2323 or visit www.niceic.org.uk.