Mission: Compliance, with West & West Ltd

Jamie Bowen, contract manager at electrical contractor West & West Ltd, spent some time in Afghanistan doing testing and inspection for the armed forces. Here is his story...

The original blog post can be found on the West & West Ltd website here.

Electrical compliance is a legal obligation, as specified in the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. Unfortunately far too many duty-holders do not understand the process of the inspections and see this as merely a tick box which needs to be dealt with as quickly and cheaply as possible.

In 2011 I undertook a testing and inspection project in Afghanistan for a period of 2 years in which the focus of all work was 100% quality and 0% cost. To have been able to work to these standards (even in extreme conditions) was incredibly satisfying. When my inspection team completed their thorough inspections on facilities there was always multiple lists of defect identified. 

Our scope of works was to make each facility 100% code compliant, regardless of the cost

It was our responsibility to rectify them also. Our scope of works was to make each facility 100% code compliant, regardless of the cost. We could then issue a test certificate to the US Government that deemed the facility code compliant.

Fast forward to today and it’s hard to comprehend homeowners, business owners and duty-holders attitudes towards electrical compliance. Time and time again we lose out on compliance contracts because we are ‘more expensive’ than another contractor. Should we reduce our price and reduce our standards? Absolutely not. 

What we need to do is educate potential customers that a fair job deserves a fair price, and therefore a quality job commands a quality price. 

Our industry doesn’t currently promote quality. Only this week we received a tender which stipulates the scoring system was 80% price and 20% quality. It is strikingly evident that cost-saving is the current priority over quality and safety throughout much of the industry in a bid to find cheapest way of achieve false compliance. 

There needs to be a reform, and this needs to happen soon. This is why we need to speak out

The result is a race to the bottom to offer the cheapest price at a much-reduced quality. There needs to be a reform, and this needs to happen soon. This is why we need to speak out.

West & West have taken the stance that will not be joining that race. It is our mission to educate the end user that a quality inspection is as and maybe more important than the initial electrical installation. Everything depletes over time and if we can identify and rectify even just one electrical defect that could have caused serious harm or death, then our efforts were worth it. 

West & West will always issue a clear and concise report to the client with a detailed scheme of the recommended defects and deviations listed with costs fixed so there is a clear path shown to be able to issue a ‘compliant’ report.

For the last year West & West have been undertaking the facility management for a leisure company with over 40 facilities in the surrounding counties. Upon carrying out the initial inspections we had the ability to review the previous test sheets and the quality was far from acceptable. 

West & West’s long term vision is to be the ‘go to’ electrical compliance company that never fails to deliver

Test sheets have been deemed compliant and it was blindingly obvious that the installation was anything but. One year on and the client we have been working with now uses our quality of workmanship and reporting as the benchmark for all their operations. We have educated them in quality and service. This is our 1^st step forward and we have a long way to go but we are confident we can educate more clients.

In order to progress within the compliance industry West & West opened a dedicated maintenance and compliance department just over a year ago that has gone from strength to strength.  We now have a team of dedicated and experienced engineers that have a passion for compliance. 

We are now completing reports and remedial works for multiple commercial sites across Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties. We have also moved into the private rental inspections due to the new Private Rental Sector Regulations that came into force on 1^st July 2020. 

The law now stipulates all private rental properties have to have a compliant EICR issued. We have a fixed rate price schedule for properties price ranged by number of bedrooms so there is no hidden costs. We can also issue test certificates within 24 hours of inspections. 

West & West’s long term vision is to be the ‘go to’ electrical compliance company that never fails to deliver. We have quickly gained the reputation that our quality of inspections, reporting, delivery and general standard are 1^st class. 

If you need any inspections of any size we are here to bring your electrical installation up to standard.