WHAT IS THE LOCAL AUTHORITY FORUM?


Te Local Authority Forum for Electrical Best Practice was established to promote a shared approach to excellence in electrical standards. Tis would be achieved through sharing experience, developing ideas and resolving shared problems by applying best practice as a collective. Te Forum has a


number of key objectives, including improving local authority service delivery mechanisms and the effectiveness of operatives. It believes


issues and benefits of investing in different equipment – and appreciate the LAF’s collective buying power. Andy said: “We encourage members to bring their accountants and surveyors. “For instance, when we started fitting


RCBOs in consumer units, the initial costs proved to be a bridge too far for several councils. But once forum members engaged with manufacturers, a competitive price for a consumer unit was identified which allowed authorities to budget for future installs. “The latest challenge is the cost of incorporating surge protection and arc fault disconnection in consumer units. As this is not a legislative requirement, many local authorities feel the cost is prohibitive. The forum will engage with manufacturers to ensure best value.”


Change for the better In partnership with the SELECT Electrotechnical Committee, the LAF is also persuasive in lobbying for change, and has made some progress with Scottish Power with regards to allowing council electricians to install isolators when fitting new consumer units in properties, as LAF member Sandy Mackintosh, Electrical Project Manager at Clackmannanshire Council, explained: “It’s been a bit of a bugbear


this can be achieved through a consistent approach to working and the standardisation of documentation across all local authorities. Its work has helped


many local authorities in their aim to deliver best value consistently, a critical aspect of their operations given the economic climate and the government’s public sector spending review. Te Forum is hosted


by SELECT at Te Walled Garden and welcomes guest speakers from a


“People are willing to share their knowledge and experience for the benefit of others”


with us for a while but we have been making progress to get Scottish Power to train our council operatives in carrying out this work ourselves. “We were just about there and then


COVID-19 came along, which put it on the back burner, so we are going to have to pick that up again soon.” The LAF is recognised by Scottish


Power as an important forum to tap into with issues regarding electrical supply, such as highlighting the issue of diverted neutral current (DNC). Last year they asked LAF members for assistance in testing for and reporting any deterioration of aluminium cable heads in properties that might lead to DNC. When Sandy learned of the potential for DNC to cause problems last year at the LAF he took immediate action.


wide cross section of the electrical industry. Following the success


of the Local Authority Forum, a second group was established in June 2010. Membership of these forums is free for all local authorities and both Te Building Services Department Forum and the Engineers and Specifiers Forum meet quarterly.


● To find out more about joining the LAF, email Yvonne Wilson at yvonne. wilson@select.org.uk


He explained: “We had an emergency meeting with our Service Leaders and organised toolbox talks with all our plumbing and gas engineers to explain the issues, and how the use of continuity clips would help them work safely. We even arranged for them to have training at Scottish Power’s training centre.”


Essential insights


This helped to prepare Sandy and his team when Clackmannanshire Council had an incident at Christmas when a power surge cut electricity to more than 200 homes, blowing fuses and damaging electrical appliances. He added: “The forum has been


invaluable to me, particularly as it gave me an insight into this DNC situation. When the reports came through of the power surge in Tillicoultry I knew what had happened and what to do. “Out of our 5,000 Clackmannanshire Council homes we identified around 2,000 that have aluminium TNCS cables, so we have developed a programme of upgrades to their electrical boards with surge protection. In the forum’s ethos of sharing best practice, we will discuss this DNC event and share the solutions we came up with so that others can benefit from what we learned.”


CABLEtalk FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 23


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