SJIB Update from Fiona Harper

A message from Fiona Harper, The Secretary of the SJIB (14 October 2020)

As you are aware, the SJIB Team has been working from home since The Walled Garden closed as a result of the Lockdown.

Over the last few months, we have been carefully following “Scotland’s Routemap through and out of the COVID-19 crisis”.  Whilst the electrical contracting industry is pretty much back at work – earlier this month the Scottish Government indicated that working from home should continue where practicable.

And so, we are continuing to work from home and the SJIB is busier than ever.

At the end of June, the Team was given access to The Walled Garden and by the end of July they had processed the backlog of SJIB Grading Applications and ECS Health, Safety and Environmental Assessments that had been sent to The Walled Garden during the Lockdown.

We have a rota which enables each member of the Team to visit The Walled Garden twice a week to process mail and distribute the incoming workload across the Team.

We are now fully up to date and we are meeting our stated timeframes for processing SJIB Grading Applications and ECS Health, Safety and Environmental Assessments within two to three weeks.

We would simply ask that all applications are posted to The Walled Garden, thus enabling us to distribute the workload.

Prior to the lockdown - four Administrators answered calls.  Since lockdown - one person has been managing the incoming calls by either answering the query or forwarding it on to the relevant Administrator.  As the Lockdown restrictions have been easing for the wider industry the number of calls being received has increased and is averaging around 450 per month.  To ensure the Team can answer all queries with expedience it would be very much appreciated if, in the first instance, any queries could be submitted by emailing us via the Contact Us Form on the SJIB website - Contact Us.  Please be assured that your query will be answered promptly.

I am hopeful that we will be able to return to The Walled Garden in January 2021.

In the meantime, I will keep in touch with further updates.

Stay safe and healthy.

Fiona Harper

The Secretary of the SJIB

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