Regulating the Electrical Profession

It is reassuring to know that anyone who arrives at my home to work on a gas appliance, boiler, cooker, or fire has been trained and has passed exams. That is because gas engineer is a regulated profession. 

The list of regulated professions includes:

• Primary School Teacher
• Dental Hygienist
• Solicitor
• Social Worker
• Air Traffic Controller
• Farrier 
• Door Supervisor

Missing from the extensive list is Electrician.

This means that the person who arrives at my home, or workplace to work on anything from rewiring a light switch to fitting solar panels or an electric vehicle charging point does not need to have been trained or registered with an official organisation.

Alan Wilson is the managing director of SELECT, the trade association for the electrical contracting industry in Scotland and is also Scotland's largest construction trade Association. 

In this episode of The Independent Minds Alan tells Michael Millward how anyone can call themselves an electrician regardless of the training they may or may not have had.

As our lives become increasingly dependent on ever more complex electrical systems this is something that SELECT are hoping to change.

We found a video on YouTube that sort of sums up the problem.

Other Websites Mentioned in the Episode of The Independent Minds

• Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry 
• Electrical Contractors Association England, Wales, and Northern Ireland 
• National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC) 

This description includes advertising links.

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr.

Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform, on which you can create your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Google. It really does make creating content so easy.

If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing and use our offer code ABECEDER. 

Travel to Scotland

If you would like to visit Scotland where SELCT is based, a good place to plan your travel is The Ultimate Travel Club. It is where you will get trade prices on travel including flights, and hotels.

Visit the Ultimate Travel Club and use our offer code to receive a discount on your membership fee. ABEC79

You can find out more about both Michael Millward, Alan Wilson and Select at abeceder.

Being a Guest

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

If you have liked this episode of The Independent Minds, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen any time anywhere. 

To make sure you do not miss future editions please subscribe.

Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abeceder is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think!

Blueprint Media facilitated this episode of The Independent Minds.