The NICEIC is an independent consumer safety organisation setup to protect users of electricity against the hazards of unsafe and unsound electrical installations. It is the electrical industry's safety regulatory body.
The NICEIC Approved Contractor Scheme has been accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ENN 45011. The NICEIC approves contractors engaged in a broad range of electrical installation work.
The aims of the ECA are to promote quality and safety through:
- The qualification of companies
- The training, qualification and reward of individuals
- Attracting and retaining quality employees
It promotes the compliance of all electrical and related installation work to relevant standards and encourages the adoption of beneficial new technologies and installation practices. It also adopts the role of influencing the market to ensure that there is an equitable commercial environment.
JIB is the Joint Industry Board and is the body, which imposes rules for both employers and employees to companies who are members. It gives both parties a fair stake and sets the industry standard of modern electricians through JIB approved apprenticeships.
ISO 9001:2000 specifies requirements for a quality management system for any organization that needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements and aims to enhance customer satisfaction.ISO 9001:2000 has been organized in a user-friendly format with terms that are easily recognized by all business sectors. The standard is used for certification/registration and contractual purposes by organizations seeking recognition of their quality management system.
The ISO 14001 family is primarily concerned with "environmental management". This means what the organization does to:
- minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities
- achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance.
The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or process. However, the standards that have earned the ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 families a worldwide reputation are known as "generic management system standards".
The areas relating to planning, implementing and checking provides some info on the standard. OHSAS 18001 is very similar in many ways to ISO 14001 though there are differences in direction and that is extremely important. It means that the management system methodology and specification is the same (so if you understand ISO 14001 then it will be easier to understand how OHSAS works) but the actual things that are under control are different.
Management of health and safety is different to ISO14001 but there are similar interfaces. Safety data sheets, emergency planning, accidents that could have an environmental and Health & Safety slant are examples. However, OHSAS does diverge from environmental and requires documented procedures to be in place that ensure the safe operation of equipment, processes and activities.
