Rolling back the years

It’s 1956 and the Quarrymen are yet to become the Beatles, Manchester United become the fi rst English team to compete in the European Cup and the Suez crisis dominates the newspaper headlines. It is also the year that NICEIC is formed to promote electrical safety. Rob Shepherd takes a look back over the years

The past 60 years have been a period of unprecedented change in the electrical contracting industry, and NICEIC has been at the forefront of protecting the public from unsafe and unsound electrical work. Let’s take a look back and remember the defining moments from the industry and beyond over the past six decades.

1956

19561965

The National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation

Contracting (NICEIC) is incorporated in August 1956 – “at last”, comments Electrical Times. Coinciding with the introduction of the 13th edition of the IEE Wiring Regulations, it starts out with 14 area engineers – one for each area electricity board – together with a small head off ice staff . The first roll of Approved Contractors is published in 1957 and lists 3,511 firms

1957

In 1957, more than 7,000 separate installations are inspected by NICEIC, increasing to around 7,500 the following year. Only about seven per cent are totally satisfactory, but a mere two per cent are considered “not up to standard, with serious infringements”. About 92 per cent are “good” or “reasonable” but with minor departures from good wiring practice. Most problems are found to be through ignorance; however, the two per cent figure falls to 0.2 per cent over the NICEIC’s first decade – a notable early success

1960

Coronation Street appears on TV screens for the first time in 1960, and by 2010 becomes the world’s longest-running TV soap opera

1963

In 1963 Tottenham Hotspur become the first British football team to win a European trophy, when a 5-1 win over Atlético Madrid in Rotterdam gives them the European Cup Winners’ Cup. It is cold, though, as that year brings the worst winter since 1946-47 and low temperatures keep snow lying around until early April in some areas

1962

Considered ‘the father of the modern LED’, in 1962, while working at General Electric,

Nick Holonyak Jr develops the first practically functional visible spectrum light-emitting diode

(LED) device for commercial use. Writing in the Reader’s Digest at the time, Harland Manchester prophesises that it “may some day make the electric light obsolete. If these plans work out, the lamp of the future may be a speck of metal the size of a pencil point that will be practically indestructible, will never burn out and will convert at least 10 times as much current into light as does today’s bulb”

1966-1975

1966

The 14th edition of the IEE Wiring Regulations is published in 1966 and it is the first time that the word “bonded” is mentioned in the definitions. The 14th edition is reprinted seven times – the reprint in 1970 is the first in metric units. By the early 1970s, around 18,000 separate electrical installations are being inspected each year, and 25 per cent of local authorities specify NICEIC-approved firms only

1966

In 1966 an advert from NICEIC makes the

point to householders that it takes five

years to train an electrician – as long as it does to train a doctor! The organisation also introduces measures to ensure that rural district councils are aware of the benefits of using only approved contractors

1967

By 1967 the Approved Contractor roll reaches 4,608

1971

NICEIC becomes a registered charity in 1971

England wins the World Cup in 1966, while long hair is in abundance in 1967, thanks to the “Summer of Love” – a social phenomenon that centres on the underground alternative hippie youth culture that had been brewing in America and Europe

1975

1975 witnesses the first step in an international reciprocal recognition, with NICEIC and the Comité National pour la Securité des Usagers de l’électricité (Consuel) planning to become “foreign correspondent members” of each other’s organisations. Collaborative working with European partners continues through our participation with JPEL/64 and CENELEC

1974

Before 1974 approximately eight million employees had no legal safety protection at work. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is introduced to provide a legal framework to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards in places of work. It leads to calls for NICEIC to police contractors’ compliance with the electrical provisions of the act

19761985

1977

1977 sees the Sex Pistols in the pop charts, as well as the newspaper headlines, while Elvis Presley dies at age 42

1980

Clive Sinclair enters the home computer market with the ZX80, at a price tag of £99.95 – the cheapest personal computer for sale in the UK. In 1982, the ZX Spectrum is released, becoming Britain’s best-selling computer

A Which? magazine report in 1980 finds that the electricity boards carried out the best installations, but at a high price, and recommends the NICEIC as the best body for testing

1982

By March 1980, NICEIC has around 8,000 names on its roll, out of a total estimated 12,000 electrical contractors in the UK. In the same year, consumer aff airs minister, Geoff rey Howe, speaking at NICEIC’s annual luncheon, says, “The government does not consider that the standards of electrical installation in buildings can be left much longer to voluntarism”

1981

1981 sees the launch of the 15th edition of the IEE Wiring Regulations. Rather pessimistically, Electrical Times claims that the 15th edition is “beyond the ken of ordinary contractors” and that it is a “green light for cowboys”. In an attempt to allay concerns, NICEIC chief engineer Tom Howell said it would “not lead to radical changes”. Considered at the time to be the last word on the regulations, it is reprinted five times On 2 April 1982, Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, a remote UK colony 8,000 miles away in the South Atlantic. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher says the 1,800 Falklanders are “of British tradition and stock” and sends a taskforce to successfully reclaim the islands

1986-1995

1986

NICEIC’s head off ice moves to Vintage House, London, in 1986. By 1987 its Approved Contractor roll reaches 9,293

1991

1989

Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN, invents the world wide web (www) in 1989. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic informationsharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world

1995 1994

The 16th edition of the IEE Wiring

Regulations is published in 1991

and is reprinted four times. NICEIC makes an announcement concerning the electrical test instruments that Approved Contractors are required to have. The NICEIC Council also amends its Memorandum of Association to include reference to standards of electrical installation safety and practice additional to the IEE Wiring Regulations

Introduced in 1994, The Construction

(Design and Management) Regulations become the main set of requirements for managing the health, safety and

welfare of construction projects. They are intended to ensure that health and safety issues are properly considered during a project’s development, so the risk of harm to those who have to build, use and maintain structures is reduced. They are subsequently revised in 2007 and 2015

In 1995 Blur and Oasis go head to head for the top of the charts, both releasing singles on the same day. Blur won

1,000,000

The one-millionth NICEIC 16th edition completion and inspection certificate is printed in 1994

1996-2005

1998

Embracing the new digital age, in 1998 the NICEIC roll is digitally published on CD-Rom and on its website

1999

2000

To mark the millennium, NICEIC becomes a UKAS-accredited certification body in 2000, against the requirements of EN 45011 (now ISO/IEC 17065:2012) for its assessment services activity In the final months of 1999, concern grows into panic that the millennium bug is going to cause computers to malfunction and potentially endanger life. It didn’t happen quite like that

2005

Part P of the Building Regulations becomes law in England and Wales on 1 January 2005. It is now a legal requirement for all work on fixed electrical installations in dwellings 2001 Apple launches its first iPod, off ering “1,000 songs in your pocket” Apple launches its firstiPodoffering and associated buildings to comply with relevant standards. The relevant UK standard is BS 7671:2001, which covers requirements In readiness for this, NICEIC launches for design, installation, its Domestic Installer scheme. By the inspection, testing, time Part P is introduced, over 10,000 verification and businesses employing more than 20,000 certification operatives have registered with the scheme

2006-NOW

2006

NICEIC moves to its present home at Warwick House in Dunstable in 2006, and by 2009 its trading group is renamed Ascertiva as part of a new strategy

2009

Spreading its links into the local community, in 2009 NICEIC sponsors Luton Town FC. Home and away shirts carried NICEIC’s ‘Nice One’ slogan and the www.niceic.com website address. The relationship continues today coontinues today

2008

THE NICEIC MAGAZINE FOR APPROVED ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS & DOMESTIC INSTALLERS ✲Industry gears up for 17th edition Winter 2007-08 | Issue 164 The 2008 financial crisis hits – considered by many economists as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The impact is immense and the electrical contracting industry does not escape its repercussions d with many casualties w

How Playford and Son is recapturing former glories What you need to know about dodgy cables

Why you can’t take a chance on health and safety

d 1 14/12/07 14:49:49 2008 witnesses the introduction of the

17th Edition of the IEE

Wiring Regulations, followed in 2011 by Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2 in 2013

2010

In 2010 current CEO Emma Clancy is appointed, replacing Jim Speirs In 2008 Barack Obama becomes 44th president of the US, and the first African American to be elected to that off ice

2011

NICEIC teams up with the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) to publish 2021 Vision – a major piece of research designed to provide a long-term vision of where the industry is likely to be in 10 years

2013

Amid much fanfare, in 2013 the Green Deal is launched – the government’s flagship initiative to increase the energy eff iciency of domestic and non-domestic properties in the UK. It fails to spark consumer interest and is killed off by OFGEM in late July 2015, just two-and-a-half years after its launch

The same year also saw the launch of NICEIC Live, which would go on to establish itself as a regular event in the industry calendar. In 2012 the event was extended to include Live North, a format that continues today

2015

Amendment

No. 3 of the 17th edition of the IET Wiring Regulations comes into eff ect in 2015. The London Fire Brigade reports that fires involving consumer units have increased to approximately five incidents each week, so to address the issue Amendment 3 requires switchgear assemblies – including consumer units – to have their enclosures made from a suitable non-combustible material, or be installed in a cabinet or enclosure comprised from a suitable non-combustible material

19,000

2016

NICEIC comes under the ownership of Certsure in 2013 – a wholly owned subsidiary of Electrical Safety First and the ECA, which also incorporates around 7,000 contractors registered with ELECSA. By 2016 Certsure would represent 37,000 registered contractors across the building services sector

NICEIC hosts its sixth Live South event, to be followed by the fifth Live North

NICEIC makes its own piece of television history, with the

creation of its first

commercial. The advert was first aired in Scotland over the Easter break

The organisation celebrates its

60th anniversary