ECA and ESC announce major partnership

[NICEIC ENGINEER]

As announced yesterday the ECA and ESC have formed a new partnership for the good of the industry.

From April next year the NICEIC and ELECSA brands will be operated by a new venture called Certsure giving the industry a stronger voice to government and major stakeholders.

The move will bring many benefits to NICEIC and ELECSA registrants, the first of which is the creation of www.electricalsafetyregister.com a definitive searchable database of more than 30 000 registered electricians.

As part of our policy to be open and informative about the merger we have set up this thread for anyone to ask any questions or queries they might have.

A member of the NICEIC team will monitor the site at various points over the next week and provide answers to any questions you might have about the move.

We want you to get involved and look forward to hearing from you.

 

[RJT_94]

Thanks BluetoBits i agree very much with what you say about it not being such a bad thing and any steps towards having 1 body, name, logo what ever a customer can look for with an electrician much like gas safe is a good thing. I just hope a way can befound for it to be fully reputable and not half way their, if it is going to be run on the basis of being with a scheme then all schemes will need to be involved. for this to work properly and not cause confusion.

 

[Guest111]

Complete and utter waste of time,with perhaps the potential for a nice earner for the parties who set it up.What is needed is a national register similar to the one used by doctors,the membership of which is mandatory to work and can be viewed by the public.The BMA listing gives you the doctors name,when they qualified,when they registered,what extra training they have received and if they have chosen to specialise in any particular field.Finally and most importantly it contains details of any complaints made against the doctor and what the outcome was.Also if there is a serious problem the doctor can be removed from the list and is not allowed to practice until they have been retrained on the problem areas or in severe cases not reinstated to the list at all.That is not too hard a system to implement and would protect the people who the organisers of these schemes claim to want to protect,namely joe public.
One register for one trade,not devisive, would have powers to weed out cowboys and would be simple for the public.end of

 

[Octopus]

OK. Why didn't Napit and Stroma sign up too?

Napit have their own scheme and then theres the Competent person website too.

All this is likely to do is confuse Joe Public.

3rd time lucky.

If the NICEIC man can't answer this will Dan and the Mods be forced to add a new catagory to the membership type, namely POLITICIAN. i.e. someone who never answers direct questions.

 

[MDJ]

The Trouble is to make a real electric safe register Like gas safe, B&Q, Screwfix, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Homebase etc will have to stop all non electricians buying stock at their stores, they all sell something which could be installed by non competent persons, I can just imagine the government allowing the freeze on sale of all electrical goods at the time of recession where businesses can't make so much money and pay tax haha, it will never happen, changing the subject slightly, the trouble is the amount of bull we keep getting regarding part pee and the now safe scheme, because all the scammers have their own system and it is un-united the farce will continue, I don't know what the answer will be long term, but as long as they allow anyone in the street to gain a part p certification for a fortnights course then we are doomed, rather than worry about the scammers joining forces to create "so called safe schemes" we need to worry about part p 2 week courses, I know there are several guys on here who have done the 5 week courses and do their best to do a professional Job, I respect them for coming on here and getting involved and trying to improve, the answer IMO is to have MOTs for sparks like some of the scammers have now where they inspect annually, they should insist part p registered guys are tested very closely, regardless of experience every 12 months by showing 5 completed jobs picked at random and at the time of inspection, a inspection of their testing ability has to be proved by testing their Jobs in front of the engineer, also remove the city councils part p inspectors who have done short courses and ensure a minimum 10 years experience in the trade is proven before an examiner can be employed, if the examiners are experienced they will ensure the quality improves, I had some fool from my city council who wasn't a spark telling me he was a part p inspector and wanted a part p certificate for a light in a loft conversion, although I have been in the trade 30 years and he was stacking shelves in Tesco 2 weeks before due to the course he was inspecting my work, now the short courses and inspectors need to be looked at more closely and we may have a chance to get to the one off elec register, but all said and done, I just can never imagine it being illegal to change a socket or light switch in a house by an ordinary Joe.

 

[Guest111]

MDJ if you go into any diy store you can buy gas fittings,I think the issue here is one national register for electricians so that there is less confusion and everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.I agree with what you say about people fitting there own sockets etc,however the same applies to gas.There are always people,who regardless of their level of competency will tackle a job,Gas fittings are not a restricted sale item despite gas safe,a call into any plumbers merchant will enable anyone to buy a gas fitting providing they know what they are asking for.I think we all need to be carefull we dont lose our way on this one,its a bit like the drug laws isnt it?we all know its illegal to snort cocaine but loads of people still do it!What is needed is one register with everyone on it and powers to deal with cowboys,after all if you were registered with say elecsa and got thrown off for dodgy work,whats to stop you signing up with another scheme provider that isn,t affiliated to the one you were thrown off?See my point one register and if you get thrown off its game over,bye bye cowboy.

 

[NICEIC ENGINEER]

In response to Murdoch an answer is posted earlier in the thread.

The ESC has tried in the not too distant past to create one register for the promotion of contractors from many schemes, but some schemes did not want to participate. www.electricalsafetyregister.com was therefore developed for NICEIC, ELECSA and ECA registrants.

The ECA and ESC havebeen working for nearly two years to form a meaningful partnership and jointgovernance over NICEIC and ELECSA. The register is just the first benefit forthose ELECSA and NICEIC contractors, as well as ECA members.

 

[MDJ]

I would love to see one register, but it just cannot happen, gas fittings cost a few pence for a coupler or a couple of quid for a length of pipe the diy stores can charge 50-200 for a light fitting and so many people change their own lights the money raised is warming the chancellors hands IMO, I just can't ever see government allowing one register for skilled persons, they don't think electricity is dangerous, after all it is only 3 wires.

 

[MDJ]

One question everyone then, why haven't the government created one register as we would all like to see?

 

[Spoon]

One question everyone then, why haven't the government created one register as we would all like to see?

Because that would be sensible and the scheme main people will be up in arms as they will lose out on lots of money.
Does that sound too negative

 

[MDJ]

Because that would be sensible and the scheme main people will be up in arms as they will lose out on lots of money.
Does that sound too negative

No Not at all, that makes sence, money is the issue I'm sure.

 

[Spoon]

The thing is MDJ, I dont trust things like this. The original idea is good, but then when you look at it its all about money. They are hoping that this will really take off and all the other people in other schemes will have to join theirs. Money!!!!
I like Phil D's idea in post 32. There is no other way round this. Even when you look at the electricalsafetyregister.com site it smacks of politics. Why cant it be honest to joe public and state that this site only has 2 scheme providers listed and that that there are other people in different schemes who are competent... Money....

 

[MDJ]

Absolutely, you said what I was thinking but couldn't put into words, this is why there will never be one scheme, money is the deal here, and who wins long term?

 

[Octopus]

In response to Murdoch an answer is posted earlier in the thread.

The ESC has tried in the not too distant past to create one register for the promotion of contractors from many schemes, but some schemes did not want to participate. www.electricalsafetyregister.com was therefore developed for NICEIC, ELECSA and ECA registrants.

The ECA and ESC havebeen working for nearly two years to form a meaningful partnership and jointgovernance over NICEIC and ELECSA. The register is just the first benefit forthose ELECSA and NICEIC contractors, as well as ECA members.

Buried in a heap of other Q & A.

Seriously not impressed. There should be one register ONLY and before you say it won't cost me anything, I bet it will be funded by the ECA, Elecsa and NICEIC so it WILL cost the members.

Fees should be going down to match Stroma!

 

[Guest111]

Mike and Murdoch you are right,while you have to pay a yearly fee to be registered with the gmc if you are a doctor,there is only one register so everyone is on a level playing field.if you look at any other group of professionals they only have one governing body,eg RCVS for vets FRICS for accountants to name only 2,this begs the question if it can be done for everyone else why not us,simple money!At the end of the day the government could turn around and say right as of 1st jan any electrician wanting to work must prove their qualifications and be registered with the national register of electricians.Anyone not registered would not be able to work and it would be illegal for them to charge for any work they do.If people wanted to be a member of any other scheme then that would be up to them,however they must be listed on the national register.Sadly however I only forsee this happening if there is an incident involving an mp,s family and it later turns out that the electrician involved wasn,t really an electrician.

 

[Guest111]

It just seems unfair that Joe Public will search the database and those folks in NAPIT will not come up on it, suggesting to the public that they are in some way less or even not competent.

EXACTLY what i,ve been saying all along!for many years there was only the Ni and then other groups started up,that should have been prevented and ONE national register created,seems theres a lot of us on here can see this so why cant the scheme providers? Simple,they go on about the greater good yes for their wallets,not the poor sods who actually work at the ground level i,e the electricians

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It just seems unfair that Joe Public will search the database and those folks in NAPIT will not come up on it, suggesting to the public that they are in some way less or even not competent.

EXACTLY what i,ve been saying all along!for many years there was only the Ni and then other groups started up,that should have been prevented and ONE national register created,seems theres a lot of us on here can see this so why cant the scheme providers? Simple,they go on about the greater good yes for their wallets,not the poor sods who actually work at the ground level i,e the electricians