Electrical compliance is a vital consideration for any business. With that in mind, many organisations will look into the possibility of hiring a dedicated electrical compliance manager. As with any new recruit, you’ll need to weigh up what they will do and whether the role is necessary within your business.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at electrical compliance managers to help with your decision.
Electrical compliance managers are responsible for ensuring your business is compliant with all the relevant regulations. That includes:
Electrical compliance managers may operate in a hands-on capacity, where they assess and inspect electrical systems and appliances. However, doing so would require extensive experience and qualifications. In most cases, they will simply stay up to date with the regulations and manage contractors who will take care of each area of electrical compliance.
Some typical responsibilities include:
As an in-house appointment, electrical compliance managers can be expensive. With good reason too. This member of staff will take on a lot of responsibility and could even save your business money by reducing your energy output in line with government schemes like the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme.
As a highly qualified and senior member of staff, you’ll be looking at upwards of £40,000 per year for the salary of your electrical compliance manager. That will increase in big cities, especially London, and can also be higher if the role is required for multiple premises.
Of course, their wages aren’t the only cost to your business. The average cost to fill a vacancy is around £6,000. This rises to £19,000 for vacancies at manager level. Why? The recruitment process requires a lot of time – and time is money.
For more senior vacancies, you’ll need more time from key stakeholders within your business. Alternatively, there’s the option of outsourcing recruitment, which can be even more expensive. There’s also the time of onboarding new recruits, which can take anywhere from a day to several months (the latter being recommended by HR professionals).
Unfortunately, that’s not where it ends. As with any internal recruitment, your electrical compliance manager can move on to pastures new. Their expertise is in high demand – and there’s no such thing as loyalty in business.
That can leave you in a stressful situation, needing to replace an important member of your workforce at short notice to keep your business compliant. Not to mention another round of recruitment costs. With the average UK worker changing roles every five years, you could find your business forking out an extra few thousand pounds every year.
With a range of penalties for electrical non-compliance, it’s simply not worth it for businesses to try and avoid their responsibilities. However, electrical compliance managers are not the only option available if you want to stay in line.
Given that many compliance managers simply outsource the actual testing and assessment, a logical alternative is to contact an electrical compliance specialist who can manage the whole process on your behalf.
This would effectively cut out the middle man when it comes to electrical compliance, given that your company will typically need to pay for the specialist services anyway. With the average compliance manager salary exceeding £40,000, according to Payscale, it could save you a significant amount of money.
You’ll also sidestep the potential disruption of your compliance manager leaving. Instead, a third-party company will continue to take care of your obligations throughout the years.
Whether or not you need an electrical compliance manager comes down to the circumstances of your business. If you’re based in the UK and simply want them to manage electrical compliance, then dedicated electrical compliance services are usually an easier, more cost-effective alternative.
An experienced and versatile company like Volta Compliance can act as an electrical compliance manager on behalf of your company, ensuring that you stay safe and compliant at all times.
However, if you’re looking for someone to manage various different areas of compliance – such as environmental, health and safety or ethical standards – then a dedicated compliance manager will likely be the best fit.
It’s important to consider the potential disruption of a staff member leaving, the time-consuming recruitment process and how difficult it can be to find the right person. In many cases, it’s much easier and more effective to pass the baton to a reliable team that will always be there.
If you need someone to manage your company’s electrical compliance, Volta Compliance can help. Our certified electricians can inspect, test and maintain your electrical systems, appliances, lighting and fire alarms to maintain compliance and keep your staff safe.
From PAT testing to EICR, and ESOS to SECR, we’re on hand throughout West Yorkshire to assist with your electrical compliance needs. For more information, don’t hesitate to contact our team on 0113 436 0402.
