Disturbing complacency over short courses
What has emerged from the discussions, investigations and reports following the tragic Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 is that a disturbingly complacent approach to competence lies at the heart of many of the problems that led to the fire.
ECA has warned government and industry against a counterproductive trend towards short, classroom-based courses, which claim to prepare budding tradespeople for electrical and other installation work. These courses do not provide the technical understanding, or the extended real-life, on-the-job experience needed to ensure safe electrical work.
However, within the electrotechnical industry, many individuals are claiming to be competent electricians despite having trained, in some cases, for only a matter of weeks.
The publication in August 2019 of the ‘Raising the Bar’ recommendations underline the urgency and importance of ensuring that everyone who works in and on buildings must be sufficiently competent.
We should all remember we are talking about protecting people’s lives. To be blunt, It is time to stop messing around with low levels of electrical and fire safety competence, and in particular it is high time to say a final goodbye to the so-called ‘five-week wonders’ – wrongly deemed by some as competent to design and install electrical work.
ECA has mapped a way forward in its response to ‘Raising the Bar’. ECA and the wider industry need to stop settling for low levels of competence, which put buildings, and hence lives, at risk.
In the months following the Grenfell fire, former Chair of the Health and Safety Executive Dame Judith Hackitt was tasked with undertaking an independent review of building regulations and fire safety to address the flaws in the system which allowed the disaster to happen.
ECA and the Fire and Security Association (FSA) made a number of influential representations to the review, having listened closely to industry concerns over competence and fire safety.
In early 2019, ECA welcomed the government’s confirmation that a new regulatory system would come into place, supported by stronger sanctions and enforcement powers.
As 2019 draws to a close, and with phase two of the Grenfell inquiry report underway, ECA and the FSA will continue to offer advice and informed opinion wherever possible, to ensure such a tragedy can never happen again.
[edit] About this article
This article was written by Andrew Eldred, ECA Director of Employment and Skills. It previously appeared on the website of the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) in November 2019 and can be accessed HERE.
More articles by ECA on Designing Buildings Wiki can be accessed HERE.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Approved document B.
- BRE articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- BS 9999.
- CE marking
- Fire detection and alarm system.
- Fire detector.
- Fire performance of external thermal insulation for walls of multistorey buildings, third edition (BR 135).
- Fire protection engineering.
- Fire safety design.
- Fire safety officer.
- Fire.
- Ionisation smoke alarm.
- Joint fire code.
- Managing fire risk in commercial buildings: A guide for facilities managers.
- Optical smoke alarm.
- Smoke detector.
- The causes of false fire alarms in buildings.
- Understanding the factors affecting flashover of a fire in modern buildings.
--ECA
Featured articles and news
BSRIA Briefing 2024: Sustainable Futures speakers
Redefining Retrofit for Net Zero Living 22 Nov.
Wall of support for post-Grenfell regulation of electricians
Call for a shake-up of the construction industry highlighted on radio.
Digital sustainability through future AEC tools
Bringing together industry and academia to meet challenges.
Skills gap for net zero highlighted to Minister for Industry
ECA convenes roundtable discussion at Portcullis House.
Evidencing Net Zero with the new UK buildings standard
Pilot version with detailed excel proforma out now!
Scottish Building Safety Levy, in consultation
From direct remediation and the RPDT, to the costs and alternatives.
Waves of warmer homes grants for the rental sector
Boosting energy efficiency standards for all rented homes.
A refocus of the National Planning Policy Framework
Key terms described in brief, as the consultation closes the evening of the 24th.
Fortified farmhouses of the unruly 16th-and 17th-century borders.
ECA shares advice for those who may be exposed to risks.
How to revolutionise UK housing with MMC
CIC and Supply Chain Sustainability School unveil a plan.
From the UKs largest manufacturer and supplier of lime.
From mud bricks to smart concrete
A brief history from 7000BC to a future on the moon.
Regulator of Social Housing publishes latest fire safety report
Covering remediation of 11 metre plus social housing sector buildings.
Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Bill 2024
Approved for priority drafting by Government of Ireland.
The long list with in the frame of key historical events.
Competence frameworks for sustainability in the built environment
Code of practice, core criteria consultation draft for comment.
New Floods Resilience Taskforce
With a wet met office autumn prediction.