There's a saying that you should be careful what you wish for.
My wish is that the Scottish Government pass legislation that will give protection of title to Scottish electricians as quickly as possible.
When the BC notification rules came in, everyone (well, many) thought it would cure many ills - while in practice it just drove a lot of bodging underground, created more BIY, and created a whole new sales pitch for the charlatans.
It was clearly recognised or they wouldn't have relaxed the requirements a few years later.
I quote from the SELECT publication,
Electrician As A Profession: The Case For Regulation, Appendix D,
External Threats To Scottish Industry Standards:
Earlier in this report, we have demonstrated that unscrupulous (and unqualified) individuals are taking advantage of weaknesses in the law – and the lack of government action – to put the lives of Scottish householders at risk. There are, however, additional government organised activities which threaten Scottish industry standards further.
Some of these are sponsored by the UK Government and, largely, are currently still confined to England and Wales, but they pose threats to standards in the electrical installation industry in England and Wales but, potentially, in Scotland also.
A little more than a decade ago, Building Regulations specific to the Domestic Sector were introduced in England and Wales for the first time. “Part P” of those regulations relate to electrical work and, in requiring electrical work under those regulations to be signed off by a ‘competent person’ it became obvious that there were insufficient electricians in England and Wales to make that work. As a consequence, standards were dropped with the introduction of individuals called “Domestic Installers”.
Instead of serving a full four/five year apprenticeship to the recognised National Occupational Standards, Domestic Installers could achieve that rank after only a few weeks – typically around three weeks. We estimate that in England and Wales, Domestic Installers now outnumber fully qualified electricians by more than 2:1. These Domestic Installers can now obtain Grade Cards south of the Border and so are able to get their businesses listed on supposedly reputable registers of electrical companies.
The Select Committee for Communities and Local Government have expressed concern about this situation and some steps have been taken to rectify this, but Domestic Installers with three weeks’ training are so far away from qualified electricians that few are likely to ever make the grade – or to want to. In the meantime, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has accepted Domestic Installer as a route to qualifying to install Microrenewable Devices. Such people now operate across the UK under the auspices of BEIS because that activity is a reserved matter.
With such downskilling taking place under the guidance of the UK Government, this carries potential threats for Scotland also.
So what is the protected title likely to mean in practice ?
It will mean that if you do not possess the relevant level of qualifications that are necessary to safely undertake electrical installation work and are not a registered electrician, you will commit a criminal offence if you so much a even advertise yourself as an electrician.
Membership of a scheme ? Yeah, we all know how much that guatantees quality of work
I wouldn't use that particular terminology. I think membership of a recognised trade body would be a better description. In Scotland, the overwhelming majority of electrical contractors who are members of a recognised trade body are either members of SELECT and/or NICEIC.
Certain qualifications ? The bar would need to be fairly low or you create a shortage which then promotes BIY and dodgy underground work.
I disagree. Raising the bar is the only way that we can ever expect to see a corresponding rise in industry standards. In my perception, the industry has to free itself from the shackles that the race to bottom imposes otherwise we will continue to witness declining standards.
Personally I don't think that is whete the problem lies, rather it relies on general ignorance amongst the public, and lack of any meaningful enforcement against the bodgers due to the limitef rrsources of Trading Standards.
I agree that there is great need for the public to be educated about electricians, the work we do, and how our industry operates. I also agree that agencies such as Trading Standards need to adopt a more robust approach when pursuing those whose shoddy workmanship imperils the public.
