Hi Chris,
I can give you chapter and verse on this and as much information as you need and more! ;)
OK, as a start, public sector bodies cannot differentiate between the schemes (scams we call them in the industry).
However, a private company can choose with whom to spend their money, thus, they can specify, and it is not a restriction of trade etc. An inusrance company is a private profit making limited company, in general, so can specify a particluar scheme, if they so wish. If your preferred contractor is not a member of that particular scheme, their scheme will have deprtment dedicated to explaining to clients how their scheme meets the requirements you and your insurer have.
They all (the scams), have slightly different interpretations of the DCLG/UKAS requirements for the assessment of contractors, and some have different scopes for which they register.
ELECSA only deal with domestic contracting companies, they do not assess their members for commercial and industrial. The NICEIC have two schemes, Approved Contractor, which means that the company has been assessed for domestic, commercial, industrial and possibly PAT and a few other areas. Also Domestic Installer, which as it suggests only assesses the company for domestic works. NAPIT will assess against domestic, commercial and industrial, as will STROMA, but they don't specifically distinguish by the name of the registration, just the scope that they assess the company for.
Then there are different assessment models, for example, the NICEIC run the Qualified Supervisor model, NAPIT assess each operative for individual competency.
The exact way the scheme is run and how people/companies and competence is assessed varies slightly across all schemes.
Under one scheme the company can be assessed and approved, but the operatives that come to do the work do not have to be qualified in any way, and this was admitted in a Parliamentary select committe investigation meeting. There is video evidence of this when Mr Clive Betts pushed the witness, he had to admit that this was the case, and it applies do domestic, commercial and industrial, the actual person that comes on site may not be qualified in anyway to do the work, and may not even be competent, they may just be an operative following instructions, and the company will have been assessed, and approved by their scheme provider and this is fine and compliant with DCLG/UKAS rules, at the moment.
How much more do you want to know.
I would be more than willing to help you write a specification so that you can become a smart client and would even be willing to share this across all IOSH members to ensure that standards of safety and competence are improved.
Ray, the report is similar the installation methods differ along with other things such as perhaps 3phase supplies etc. There is a "new breed" of so called electrican out there that doesn't "do" 3 phase, because they have not been trained to do it. Also there is a raft of insurance policies out there that do not cover electrical contractors for 3ph works.
Edited by user 21 December 2017 20:16:07(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified