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Forging relationships

AS PART OF ITS CAMPAIGN

to promote the professionalism, competence and expertise of registered members to clients and specifiers, the ECA has been forging partner agreements with some of the industry’s leading membership bodies. The partner agreements aim to: encourage the sharing of information and ideas between the ECA and its partners; give registered members

ECS cardholders can benefit from enhanced CRB checks

CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU

(CRB) checks are now often required for individuals when they work in schools, care homes, hospitals and other establishments that are responsible for vulnerable people. In response, ECA and JIB have teamed up with Capita Recruitment Vetting Service (CRVS) – one of the UK’s leading specialist pre- employment screening and referencing organisations – to provide a scheme to assist ECS cardholders and ECA registered members to obtain CRB checks.

ECS cardholders who apply for an enhanced CRB check receive a separate photo identity CRB check card to confirm clearance by the CRB. The cost of a CRB check is £64.20 inclusive of VAT. This includes the provision of a CRB identity check card for the individual, and a small discount for ECA registered members.

n For more information, visit the Capita website at www.capitarvs. co.uk/electrotechnical-certification- scheme.

access to a comprehensive range of resources; and provide a platform to jointly lobby government and other key decision-makers on matters of mutual interest. Four agreements have been signed to date, with: the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM); the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA); the National Federation of Builders (NFB); and, most recently, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). ECA group chief executive officer,

David Pollock, said: ‘In a rapidly changing marketplace, it is essential that we form strong alliances with other prestigious industry bodies with similar aims and objectives. We welcome the opportunities offered by these agreements.’

BIFM chief executive Ian Fielder said: ‘I’m delighted to have reached

this agreement. Our members will welcome the chance to access the expertise of the contracting community and to share best practice.’ Executive director at CILA, Graham Cave, commented: ‘Loss adjusting is a collaborative enterprise, so I’m delighted we have reached this “Partners in Building Services Excellence” agreement with the ECA.’ Julia Evans, chief executive of the NFB, added: ‘The built environment offers the perfect opportunity for collaboration and we are delighted to be partnering with the ECA. This agreement will allow our respective members access to valuable resources, expert advice and ideas.’

n More information, including details of the additional resources and benefits now available to registered members, can be found on the ‘Our Partners’ page of the ECA website.

Battery landfill ban

paying for hazardous waste disposal. Producers must provide for the take-back of waste industrial batteries free of charge from an end-user, on request, if the producer supplies new industrial batteries to that end-user during a given period.

INDUSTRIAL AND VEHICLE

batteries are now banned from entering landfill under The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009.

This means that all battery producers will be responsible for collecting, treating and disposing of batteries. Anyone in the UK who puts batteries – or products containing batteries – onto the UK market for the first time is classed as a producer. ECA members and the industry at large should therefore now be receiving free industrial battery recovery, which means, like WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), that a contractor is no longer responsible for the cost of

They must also take back waste industrial batteries free of charge from an end-user, on request, when that end-user cannot return waste industrial batteries to their supplier (for example, when not purchasing new batteries). However, this obligation only applies to waste industrial batteries of the same type as the new industrial batteries that the producer puts on the market. End-users, in these circumstances, should first try to contact the original supplier of the waste batteries.

When an end-user is unable to dispose of waste industrial batteries by either of the options above, then (and only then) the end-user’s entitlement is to contact any producer to request take-back.

n For more information or to see a list of battery compliance scheme contacts, visit the Environment Agency’s website at www. environment-agency.gov.uk.

ECA News

Workplace pension reforms

The Pensions Act 2008, which will come into effect from October 2012, will impose new obligations on all employers. Under the rules of the Act, which will be implemented over a four-year transitional period, all employers will be required to: n Register and operate a good- quality workplace pension scheme for their employees;

n Automatically enrol eligible employees into that scheme; and

n Pay regular contributions into the scheme.

All employees aged between 22 and retirement age, who are not already members of a workplace pension scheme and who receive earnings (in 2006-7 terms) in excess of £5,035 per annum, are eligible for the scheme. Large companies will be the first to feel the effects of the Act, with the obligations filtering down to the smallest companies over a four-year period. Employers will be asked to register their preferred workplace pension scheme with the Pension Regulator, and then comply with the automatic enrolment requirement. The chosen scheme may be an existing workplace pension scheme that meets the minimum requirements, or a new workplace scheme set up specially to comply with the new obligations. A fall-back option will be provided in the form of a new national scheme, the National Employment Savings Trust, which is being set up to provide a default option if no other solution is available. Under the pension reforms,

the JIB Pension Scheme will become a qualifying scheme. It is especially designed for the electrical contracting industry, being a low-cost, low administration burden solution. It is available to all ECA members.

n For more information, visit the JIB pensions website at www.jib.org.uk or call 020 8300 3009.

Summer 2010 ECA Today 11

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