The MPA received a significant endorsement with the confirmation by BAA that it would be using the agreement on Heathrow Terminal 5. This marks a watershed in industrial relations management within the building services sector. It will enable large projects to be executed within a framework of stability, against a background of defined deliverables. The MPA, backed by the ECA, SELECT, HVCA, APHC and Amicus, is a model for future collaboration in the industry.
Co-operation has been a theme in dealing with most of the challenges, opportunities and changes in the last year. I would like to outline some of those developments and how the Association and the industry has effectively dealt with them.
First, Part P of the Building Regulations. The announcement by the Government of its intention to legislate minimum standards to ensure the safety of fixed electrical installations in dwellings has been well received. The ECA, with BRE Certification and the IEE, has applied to run a competent persons' scheme to support the legislation.
Firms belonging to such a scheme will be able to self-certify that their work complies with the Building Regulations. These arrangements represent a move towards the registration of competent contractors, for which the ECA has long lobbied. We hope that in time the provisions of the legislation will extend beyond dwellings.
Part P will be another important step towards removing the cowboy element within our sector. Once it is in place there will be pressure on all contractors to become certified as competent and significant commercial incentives for them to seek to become members of the ECA, provided they can meet our stringent entry criteria.
The ECA has long been recognised as the provider of the best, most comprehensive support packages in the industry, offering outstanding value for money. It is worthy of note that during the past year our membership base has increased, as have new applications.
The MPA marks a watershed in industrial relations...It will enable large projects to be executed within a framework of stability, against a background of defined deliverables
Our technical support department will assist members with Part P and the new regulatory framework that it will require, through seminars, advice and regional support. There are other fast changing technical developments which we will continue to monitor to best inform the membership. The soon-to-be-introduced changes to cable colours is a case in point.
Our contractual, legal, labour relations, education and training and other support services will be increasingly in demand. To survive successfully, companies must demonstrate competence and they will recognise the value of these services.
The ECA exists to promote and maintain the highest standards in the industry. The roll-out of the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme, in the form of the ECS card, has seen in excess of 26 000 health and safety assessments being carried out in 2003. This has made a major contribution to the certification and demonstration of individual competence in the industry, particularly in the area of safety awareness.
The recent introduction of datacomms and fire and security to the scheme demonstrates the ECA's commitment to the promotion of the highest standards in these sectors. While ECS embraces the importance of the raising of standards in health and safety, we recognise the need to avoid over-complexity and bureaucracy.
The ECA continues to be a leading industry champion on health and safety. Many of you will be aware of our Zero Accident Potential (ZAP) initiative, which is now in its third year. Our stated medium-term improvement targets for 2005 are zero fatalities; a 30% reduction in 'three-day lost time' accidents compared with 2001; and a 40% reduction in major lost time accidents. The industry performance for 2002 was substantially better – by 24% – than the previous year. This makes us optimistic that the 2005 targets are achievable.
On the education and training front, we continued throughout 2003 with our colleagues in SELECT, HVCA, APHC, SNIPEF and Amicus, to work with the Government on the development of the Sector Skills Council. This culminated with the establishment of SummitSkills on 1 December 2003 for the electrotechnical, mechanical and plumbing sectors. Bureaucracy, I regret to record as government-driven, was appalling. We got there in the end, but what a wasteful journey.
We remain concerned with the current system of procurement...local authorities continue to procure on the basis of lowest price, to the detriment of quality and added value
In our own sector we have launched a new ECA business development initiative in addition to a management training programme. Operational convergence within our industry featured in 2003, with the commercial and legal committees of the ECA and HVCA holding joint meetings to address common issues.
I would also like to address some of the concerns that have arisen in 2003. We appreciate the Government relies on honest and constructive dialogue and representations from industry in order to formulate policy, and we hope our comments will be viewed in this light by our minister, Nigel Griffiths.
We remain concerned with the current system of procurement. This is highlighted in a recent report by the SEC Group, which focused on whether local government was applying best value when in construction procurement. The results of the survey indicated that, overwhelmingly, UK local authorities are continuing to procure on the basis of lowest price, to the detriment of quality and added value.
The Associations combined under the banner of the SEC Group to raise the question of the archaic and crippling burden of retention that our industry is forced to accept. It would greatly assist the industry, and substantially increase investment and the effectiveness of the sector if the Government would intervene and take action to tackle abuses of the system. Modern and progressive procurement systems, integrated team working, alliance and partnering actively promoted by the Government would greatly assist in this regard.
Increasingly the emergence of a qualification 'industry' that brings no added value to construction, only to itself, is manifesting itself. The ECA welcomes the demonstration and certification of competence. However, we are seeing an emerging picture of such complexity that it is in danger of bringing no benefit to the industry or its client base. The duplication of assessment, overlapping and competing qualification systems, and the danger of standards being compromised by organisations driven only by the need to capture market share, will result in a needless wasteful bureaucracy, totally at odds with the industry and clients' true requirements. Government must intervene to prevent the development of an unco-ordinated, arbitrary and unaccountable regime.
There are also some training issues about which we remain concerned. Our sector has more young people in training than any part of the construction industry and we recognise that we must provide more apprenticeships to replace a retiring workforce. That said, we are concerned at the quality of our traditional recruitment areas and with more young people encouraged by current government policy to remain in higher education, financing must be made more flexible in offering fully-funded packages for NVQ training to older teenagers and adults.
2004 presents an opportunity to truly demonstrate the industry's contribution to UK plc. It is a £10 billion business. It has a real and crucial role as a partner with government.
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
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