Mike Stark, SELECT President, looks at the reasons why public safety has been a recurring theme in the history of Edinburgh-based SELECT.
In order to look forward and plan efficiently, it is prudent to look back and consider how the voices of the past can inform and influence the direction of the future. This strategy would seem particularly prudent as SELECT currently celebrates its 125th year empowering electricians and electrical businesses across Scotland.
As part of its celebrations, the association is preparing to publish an in-depth timeline which traces its roots back to the turn of the 20th century.
As well as representing a mammoth task of research, this fascinating look back at our history uncovers a recurring theme that is still just as relevant – the ambition of the electrical industry in Scotland to keep its customers and wider society safe.
Although much has changed along the way, there’s plenty we can learn from the past as modern electricians still face many of the issues raised by their forebears – not least a lack of skilled labour, late payments and unqualified/dangerous tradespeople.
Our institution came into being when contactors in Glasgow, faced by the encroachment of untrained competition, formed the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland in November 1900 and in doing so became the world’s first body for the electrical sector.
Expansion across the country
The association quickly flourished, attracting 250 member companies and expanding across Scotland as separate branches were established in the following years. Annual subscription was two guineas; equivalent to £200 today.
By 1917, it was facing for the first time an issue which is still at the forefront of our activities – the need for the registration of electrical businesses to ensure quality and the highest safety standards. As the timeline reveals, the association’s request for regulation was declined by the UK government, which said that “winning the war was its main concern”.
Undeterred, it formed a Propaganda Committee in 1924 to make sure its voice was heard in the corridors of power and continued to raise its profile throughout the 1930s with activities such as discounting electric lamps for collieries and supplying the lighting for the six-month Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938.
In 1939, as the clouds of war gathered once again, the association returned to Parliament to plead the issue of compulsory registration to keep the public safe from rogue operators – but once again, its appeal was dismissed on the grounds of lack of parliamentary time.
More than 80 years later, after a name change and much economic and societal shift, the issue of regulation still shines as brightly as ever, and SELECT will continue to lead the campaign for protection of title as our timeline extends long after the 125th party is over.
This year will be one of celebration for SELECT, but the association’s focus will remain where it always has been – on the interests of its members and the safety of their customers and wider society.
The SELECT timeline is available to download for free from: www.select.org.uk
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