SELECT MEMBERS CORONAVIRUS


Tell us about your business and how it’s been aff ected by coronavirus David Harris, Director of DMH Electrical and Vice President of SELECT’s Glasgow and West of Scotland branch: We are predominately involved in the construction industry and had to pause trading due to site closures. We have been on the furlough scheme since 25 March as there was no alternative.


Gavin Ross, Commerical Director of Prime Electrical Group: We have 14 staff and around 30 electricians and currently everyone’s on furlough. Our business is focused on the national housebuilders so when they started to close sites, we had to look at what we were doing. We worked with them to get plots complete because there were clients ready to move in and we didn’t want to leave anyone without a home. We’re now using a subcontractor for emergency call-outs. Trying to procure PPE for him was diffi cult but we managed to get everything we needed.


Do you have any apprentices? How has it aff ected them? Gavin: We carry a range of


apprentices from fi rst year right up to pre-FICA stage. Their


apprenticeship has been extended which is unfortunate because we look to get them through to electrician status as


David Harris Director, DMH


Electrical, Glasgow


Building a new future


With the pandemic bringing sites across the country to a standstill, we spoke to two SELECT members who work in construction and on housing developments about how the lockdown has aff ected their business – and their predictions for the industry


quickly as possible. The problem we’ll have with apprentices will be health and safety – can we put an electrician with an apprentice when they’re working in close proximity? We’re waiting to get feedback on that from the housebuilders.


David: We have three apprentices, one recently passed his FICA and is due to be graded to electrician, one third stage and one second stage. Apprentice training and practical experience has been interrupted and may mean some extra weeks have to be added to the normal timescale.


Have you had assistance fromgovernment schemes?


David: We found the Furlough Scheme easy to 12 CABLEtalk JUNE/JULY 2020


use and it has been a great benefi t and prevented redundancies. We also received the business grant which contributed towards the business overheads.


Gavin: We’ve used the job retention scheme and we’re grateful for it. We’re currently reviewing the other schemes. Initially it was a challenge because the information was changing on a daily basis.


What are your plans for returning to work? Gavin: We’re lucky because we’ve got a large offi ce which makes social distancing easier. Before lockdown, we contacted a company who installed hand sanitiser stations. On-site, it depends on the housebuilder. We’re waiting to see what they say regarding their own health and safety policies.


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