Following the news that Stroma Certification has seen its UKAS accreditation extended to cover its Commercial Electrical Certification Scheme, Andy Sharp, Commercial Manager, looks at how electrical businesses can benefit.
Stroma’s Commercial Electrical Scheme provides certification to electrical contractors and commercial installers to allow them to self-certify their installation, maintenance and testing work on commercial buildings. We’re committed to supporting the work of competent electricians and have invested in further UKAS accreditation to give you more credibility when promoting your business. Stroma Certification can add the commercial strand to an existing domestic certification, subject to meeting the competence assessment criteria for both strands.
What is UKAS accreditation?
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the national accreditation body for the UK which assesses organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services against the relevant standards and awards them with UKAS accreditation following successful assessment and compliance with those standards. Following an independent evaluation, our Commercial Electrical Scheme for electrical work has met the recognised standards to be awarded UKAS accreditation. Accreditation under UKAS determines the technical competence and integrity of Stroma Certification to offer a certification service for commercial electrical work. With UKAS accreditation, the Government is able to rely on our organisation to provide a compliant certification service for commercial electrical work and in turn, you can rely on Stroma as a trusted provider of those services.
What are the benefits to electrical businesses?
Firstly, it allows you to demonstrate a competitive advantage to your clients. By extending your scope of certification to include commercial maintenance, design, verification, inspection and testing work, you can offer your customers a broader range of services and expertise and potentially increase your revenue. Our scheme ensures compliance is maintained throughout your work. We assess you on an annual basis to ensure your work remains safe and compliant. This can help you to save time and money without the need for repeat installations and testing as well as reducing risks and improving health and safety.
How does the assessment process work?
To join our scheme for electricians can either fill out an online form at stroma.com or call our expert team who will guide you through the process. Just like our Commercial Electrical Scheme is assessed for UKAS accreditation, we also carry out a three-part assessment before awarding membership. The first part, an office assessment, assesses your documents, including your qualifications, insurance and calibration certificates, commissioning records, complaints procedures and logs and health and safety policies and risk assessments and other relevant procedures and policies. Part two is a series of technical questions to test your knowledge on the electrical industry as a whole. These questions will be comfortable for a professional electrician to answer. The third part is the on-site assessment which will look specifically at a commercial installation. You will be asked to present some examples of commercial installation work that have been installed within the last 12 months.
Are there any other benefits from becoming a member?
As part of your membership you’ll receive a fantastic package of benefits which include, an online notification portal, certificate generation software, dedicated technical support, bespoke insurance policies, TrustMark membership (£50 +VAT), website design packages, discounted calibration and repair and much more.
For more information on Stroma Certification’s UKAS accredited Commercial Electrical Scheme for electricians visit: www.stroma.com/certification
