ECS was pleased to see further uptake for ECS Check in Northern Ireland in late 2021 and early 2022 and there are now more than 1,200 organisations registered on the system UK-wide.
ECS Check is a government recognised Licence to Practise system - first introduced to all appropriate government construction contracts on 1st January 2016, - and has been aiding electrical contractors in meeting their requirements free of charge.
Northern Ireland Water is the latest public organisation which has registered on ECS Check in Northern Ireland following registration by Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Translink, Belfast and Western Health and Social Care Trusts.
As well as allowing contractors and clients to verify the ECS status of onsite electrotechnical personnel, ECS Check’s online portal enables users to produce summaries for auditing and reporting. Free to access, the service provides information on the entire workforce, displaying details of qualified electricians, apprentices and other electrical workers employed across multiple projects.
This means there is no requirement for emailed copies of ECS cards or certificates, and ECS cards can all be scanned through the ECS Check App for this monitoring and auditing requirement by scanning the QR codes within the MyECS virtual card app.
BI Electrical Services (NI) Ltd provided electrical installation work to Translink under the ECS Check LtP system. Roy Connolly, Managing Director, explained his experience with the system:
"B.I. Electrical Services (NI) Ltd are proud to deliver high quality electrical installations using experienced and qualified staff. Our staff are our greatest asset. The quality of our training and expected standards of our workforce are some of the reasons B.I. Electrical Services are a trusted supply chain partner for public contracts in Northern Ireland.
“The launch of ECS Check as a Licence to Practise has provided a clear and straightforward system for meeting the LtP requirements and demonstrating to clients the qualifications, knowledge and high standard met by our electrical operatives.
“This real-time access to a digital database is a smarter way of working and gives recognition to our electricians who hold ECS cards to meet requirements for construction site access. ECS Check is free to access so is helping avoid unnecessary duplication of cost and is a great example of our work to drive innovation and safety through supply chains.”
To find out more about taking advantage of this free to access system, please see www.ecscard.org.uk/ecs-check or email ecscheckni@ecscard.org.uk