NICEIC Connections Spring 2011 by Redactive Media Group

Jobs for the Girls campaign launched NICEIC recently launched its Jobs for the Girls campaign, designed to encourage more women to join the electrical industry. The programme will highlight the exciting opportunities available to women and challenge electrical businesses to consider hiring them. “There is now a good business case for employing more women,” said NICEIC chief executive officer Emma McCarthy. “Consumers sometimes prefer to hire female contractors and our research has highlighted that some female homeowners admit to feeling intimidated when having to deal with a male electrician.” Eleanor Bell runs her own contracting business in Cornwall, after giving up her previous job as a showroom sales manager to retrain as an electrician in 2008. Her work now covers everything from small jobs around the home to complete rewires of business premises. “In my experience, people are surprised and delighted to find a female face in what has always been predominantly a male industry,” she said. “They tell me that they feel very

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McCarthy appointed NICEIC CEO Emma McCarthy has been named as the new chief executive officer of NICEIC and Ascertiva Group as part of a governance restructure. McCarthy was previously chief operating officer. The reshuffle also sees executive chairman Jim Speirs appointed chairman of Ascertiva Group’s board. “These roles were created as part of a wider project to streamline our governance structure and will help the group to maximise its benefits to our parent charity,” said Speirs.

NICEIC Golf Classic

comfortable to have me working in their home.” NICEIC has developed a practical guide to help businesses understand equality issues and offer advice on employing women. It has also signed up as sponsor of the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards 2011. See our feature on women in the industry on page 40

Registered contractors keen to show off their golf skills in this year’s Golf Classic need to sign up for their regional qualifier. Events are being held across the country throughout June and July and are open to anyone who owns or works for a NICEIC-registered company, with a legitimate handicap certificate. The entrance fee is £80 a pair and for this each team will get coffee and a bacon roll on arrival, 18 holes of golf, a two-course meal in the clubhouse afterwards and a golfer’s goodie bag. For more information see page 37.

Free pocket guide

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ICEL Emergency pictorial check lighting list 2003

Inside this issue of Connections you will find Pocket Guide 23 ICEL Emergency lighting pictorial checklist 2003. This guide is the second of two parts and covers emergency lighting for control rooms, high-risk task areas and open areas. Part one was in the last issue of Connections. A printable version of each pocket guide is available on the NICEIC website and copies can be obtained by contacting 0870 013 0382 or customerservice@niceic.com. ORS O sed ute, same otect

Part 2: Control rooms, high risk and open areas task areas

BESCA certification alliance Members of the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA) can now access NICEIC’s microgeneration certification scheme (MCS) through their membership of the Building Engineering Services Competence Accreditation (BESCA). NICEIC and BESCA have formed a partnership that will allow HVCA members to become competent in the installation of renewable technologies under the MCS, with BESCA offering access to the course alongside its own competent persons’ scheme. “This alliance ensures consistency of the certification services offered by

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BESCA, which will ultimately benefit all HVCA members by reducing the burden of inspection that is an inevitable part of demonstrating compliance,” said Wayne Terry, NICEIC’s head of energy and environment. “We are witnessing building services going through a metamorphosis driven by the growing demand for integrated renewables solutions and this will ensure that BESCA will be able to deliver to its customers a one-stop shop for certification,” added Bruce Kirton, BESCA’s chief executive. The MCS was developed to provide consumers with an assurance that microgeneration products and installation companies meet a robust set of standards. Demand for the scheme has been growing as contractors realise the business benefits of this market and consumers realise the financial incentives that are available through feed-in tariffs and schemes such as the renewable heat incentive.

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Earn credit with tax advice Contractors can gain extra popularity with business customers by alerting them to the fact that their installations can be claimed against tax using capital allowance, Portal Tax Claims says. It estimates that 96 per cent of businesses that own their own property and have upgraded electrics in recent years could be owed a refund. The firm has also produced a list of the top 10 items on which tax can be reclaimed, with airconditioning taking the number one spot. “Many owners are unaware that such valuable capital allowances can be claimed,” says Shaun Murphy, chief executive of Portal Tax Claims. “Literally hundreds of billions of pounds are due to owners, but most lack the necessary expertise to make the claim.”

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