SELECT MD Alan Wilson has appeared on national radio to reinforce the importance of regulation of electricians in the wake of the Grenfell Inquiry’s call for a shake-up of the construction industry.
Alan told listeners on The Clive Holland Show on Fix Radio that it was ‘so important’ for consumers to know they could trust electricians who carry out work in their homes or businesses.
His comments followed the recommendations in the damning Grenfell report, including chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick saying the sector should appoint a regulator to oversee all aspects of the construction industry.
Speaking on the national DAB station, Alan said, “In our sector there is already a measure of self-regulation, in that there are different bodies which oversee electricians, but there is no legal requirement to be registered which is why we have taken up the cudgels on the issue, particularly over the past six or seven years. Protection of title means that if you call yourself something, such as a teacher or a nurse or a doctor, then you have to have the qualifications and experience to show that you are entitled to call yourself that.”
Asked what achieving professional status would look like, Alan said it would be similar in some ways to the Gas Safe Register, where workers wear identification lanyards.
He added, “Because we are going through the Scottish Parliament to achieve this and consumer status is protected in terms of UK legislation, we can’t get business registration; that is not feasible. But what we can do is aim for individual regulation, and that would mean the Scottish Government holding a register of electricians who are qualified to do work. So the workforce would have a badge and the customer would have the opportunity to check them out online. And that is so important.”
The campaign for protection of title for the profession of electrician has been pursued over the course of many years by SELECT in partnership with the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB), the Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) and Unite the Union.
The campaign aims to make it a statutory offence for someone to call themselves an electrician when they have no, or inadequate, qualifications, and to make sure those who work in the industry do so in a safe and competent manner.
