Alan Wilson says timeline released as part of trade body\u2019s 125th anniversary shows how call for protection of title has been ignored for more than a century<\/p>\n
The head of Scotland\u2019s largest construction trade association, SELECT, has insisted that politicians must not \u201crepeat the mistakes of the past\u201d and ignore the need for regulation of the electrical industry.<\/p>\n
Managing Director Alan Wilson said a new timeline released by the association to mark its 125th anniversary showed that the UK-wide sector had been calling for protection of title while the First World War was still raging on the Western Front.<\/p>\n
Yet despite repeated pleas for regulation, successive governments have refused to act for more than a century \u2013 and Mr Wilson said continuing to turn a deaf ear would be \u201canother black mark in history\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOur new timelines shows that the association asked the UK Government in 1917 and 1939 to introduce registration of electrical businesses to ensure quality and the highest safety standards. On both occasions the request was declined and so it has continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is bewildering to me that the issue of rogue operators was raised by our founders more than 100 years ago, but despite numerous pleas ever since, nothing has been done.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre there no unqualified tradespeople out there any more? No dangerous installations putting the people of Scotland at risk? I think we all know the answers to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur ancestors clearly had the wisdom to know that electrical miscreants were a danger to the industry and the wider public.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a shame that generations of politicians haven\u2019t shared that sentiment or had the foresight to tackle a problem that\u2019s only grown worse with the rise of renewable technology and untrained \u2018six-week wonders\u2019 cashing in on the unwary public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Backed by MSP, MPs and fellow industry bodies, SELECT has been spearheading a long-running campaign for regulation of the electrical industry, but still no action has been taken.<\/p>\n
Writing in the most recent issue of the association\u2019s magazine cabletalk, Mr Wilson went on: \u201cI\u2019m not sure whether to be surprised or depressed that this problems still exists, or to just put it down to human nature and an unwillingness to change if no one forces us to.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, more than ever, it\u2019s vital that we continue the crusade started by our founders and keep fighting for regulation and protection of title for the profession of electrician.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely we \u2013 and by we, I include politicians \u2013 must learn our lesson and not repeat the mistakes of those who have previously rebuffed the genuine case for regulation. To do so would mean another black mark in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
SELECT\u2019s campaign, in partnership with the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB), Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) and Unite the Union, aims to make it a statutory offence for someone to call themselves an electrician when they have no, or inadequate, qualifications.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Government had previously set up an Electricians Working Group to explore the challenges and two consultations on regulation have also taken place, while the SELECT Wall of Support continues to attract new backing.<\/p>\n
SELECT President Mike Stark said: \u201cOur campaign has now attracted a massive groundswell of support, but the urgent need to protect the public from the activities of unscrupulous traders is becoming ever clearer.<\/p>\n
\u201cElectrotechnical work is extremely complex and it is of primary importance that the professionals who carry it out are fully trained, fully qualified and up to speed with the most recent developments and regulations in the sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alan Wilson says timeline released as part of trade body\u2019s 125th anniversary shows how call for protection of title has been ignored for more than a century The head of Scotland\u2019s largest construction trade association, SELECT, has insisted that politicians must not \u201crepeat the mistakes of the past\u201d and ignore the need for regulation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alan-Wilson-SELECT-MD_smaller-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22453,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22451\/revisions\/22453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}