Flying the Kite
How to get the most out of the new BSI Kitemark website.
BSI Product Services has made choosing a Kitemark approved electrical installer easier with their new www.kitemark.com website.
Visitors to the website simply confirm the type of business they are looking for and enter their postcode. They are then presented with details, including full contact information, for Kitemark Approved electrical installers in their vicinity. This service is provided entirely free of charge to the public.
All installers listed on the website have been subjected to an in-depth assessment, followed by regular reassessments, carried out by BSI Product Services. This process ensures they consistently carry out high quality work that fully meets the requirements of all relevant regulations and standards. Users of the new website can, therefore, have total confidence in the competence and ability of any installer that they choose.
“Homeowners and businesses alike often find choosing an electrical installer to be a challenging and time consuming task which is fraught with concerns about how to evaluate the competence and experience of the companies being considered,” said Claire Lynam of BSI Product Services.
“To address this issue, we’ve made big investments in the Kitemark Electrical Installers scheme and the associated website,” she continued. “We’ve drawn on our expertise and experience to do all of the hard work involved in evaluating the suppliers, and we’ve made the results readily and freely available to anyone who wants to make use of them.”
The BSI Kitemark, which electrical installers approved under the scheme are entitled to use, has achieved its reputation over many decades, and is now recognised by over 82% of the UK adult population as a symbol of quality and safety.
EPA spoke to BSI Product Services to find out more about the scheme, how to become part of it and how it would benefit an electrical installer:
Being certified as a competent person in line with Part P of the Building Regulations is a big benefit for any electrical installer, as it removes the need for them to notify the local authorities’ Building Control Department of work they are carrying out and for them to have that work certified when it is completed. Competent persons can certify their own work, which saves a lot of time, trouble and money.
The route to becoming certified as a competent person involves a detailed assessment by an approved body, leading to membership of a competent person scheme. For electrical installers, there are four organisations that run these schemes, one of which is BSI Product Services, the testing and certification arm of the BSI Group. The BSI Product Services scheme is, however, a little different from the others.
The key factor is that members of this scheme are entitled to use the BSI Kitemark in documentation, literature and, crucially, in their advertising.
So, how do electrical installers go about joining the scheme? One thing to point out is that this Scheme is only open to companies. So, an individual or ‘sole trader’ must be registered as a ‘company’ with the required insurances etc to be eligible to apply. The first step is simply to complete an application form.
An appointment will then be made for a BSI Product Services inspector to visit the installer’s premises and two or more sites where the installer has carried out work of sufficient technical content to warrant an assessment. The initial stage of the assessment covers the management systems issues relating to the company, such as relevant insurances, correct technical library etc. and would also include technical questions to give the inspector a preliminary idea of the candidate’s overall competence. The inspector will also ascertain that relevant documentation, including copies of the IEE Wiring Regulations and the Building Regulations, is to hand. Additionally, under CLG requirements, the company must be able to provide a Warranty on their ‘domestic installation’ work.
The on-site inspections are detailed, and look at various aspects of the work carried out – to include compliance with the relevant Building Regulations as well as the electrical aspects – and at the documentation supplied to the customer. In all, the complete assessment would normally take one full day.
Successful applicants are eligible to join the Kitemark Scheme on payment of the appropriate annual fee and, from that point on, can make full use of the Kitemark, and they will also appear on the Kitemark website.
To ensure that standards are maintained, however, and that scheme members keep fully up to date with developments in technology and legislation, they are re-assessed annually. These re-assessments are similar to the initial assessment, but would adopt a ‘sampling’ methodology, as many of the necessary requirements will already have been established. Nevertheless, reassessments are still thorough, and again take a full day.
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