NICEIC renames division

The National Inspection Board has approved a proposal to separate the charitable activities of the NICEIC from the rest of the group. The division set up to protect consumer rights will now be known as the Electrical Safety Council (ESC).

The ESC will continue to work as a registered charity intended to protect consumers from faulty electrical workmanship. NICEIC approved contractors and NICEIC domestic installers are all enrolled or registered with the NICEIC Group and as such will be endorsed by the ESC. The move does not affect any other business within the NICEIC.

The renaming of the NICEIC charity division is the outcome of a two year review into the effectiveness of the NICEIC brand in raising awareness of electrical safety issues amongst the general public. The review, which included numerous focus groups across the country, identified strong support for an electrical safety charity. However, it revealed a lack of understanding of what the NICEIC stood for, indicating a clear need for the charity to take a different approach when talking to consumers.

Jim Speirs, director general of the NICEIC Group, said: “The consumer focus groups were enthusiastic about the idea of an electrical safety charity that protected them from unsafe work. But, as we suspected, they did not realise that such an organisation already existed, and they didn’t associate the NICEIC with electrical safety.

“Consumers found the acronym NICEIC cumbersome and had difficulty recalling what the letters stood for. However, they responded positively to the name Electrical Safety Council and immediately understood its meaning. We believe that this new name will help the charity to communicate more effectively with the public.”