JIB Industrial Information Service

The JIB Grading system was introduced in 1968 for operatives who were working for a JIB member firm and has become the standard for the industry. In 1993 the JIB, in conjunction with the SJIB in Scotland introduced the UK Register of Electricians. This allowed operatives who were not working for a JIB member firm to have their level of competence independently verified. The Register not only provided for pure contracting electricians but also covered ten other electrical skills, which allowed members to be registered over a range of skills. In 1999, the UK Register and the JIB Grading system were merged to form the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS).

The Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS) is now fully recognised by industry as an equivalent to the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) for other building and construction trades. To demonstrate this important advance, the ECS Card has been revised to incorporate holograms of the CSCS and ECS Assessment to show achievement in ECS Standards in Health and Safety.

The JIB Industrial Information Service provides a facility where Employment Agencies and other bodies who are not electrical contracting firms can obtain verification of gradings for electrical operatives who hold a JIB Grade or who are members of the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme. Due to the Data Protection Act 1998, only current Electrotechnical Certification Scheme Card Holders who have signed the consent form will be included on the Industrial Information Service.

Registration

In order to participate in the Service, applicants will have to register with the JIB and pay an annual Registration Fee. When an organisation first joins the service they will be allocated a Registration Number. The company name, address and telephone number will also be added to the list of Industrial Information Subscribers on this web site.

If an organisation wishes to install the Service at more than one branch or office, then each separate branch or office has to be registered and a separate registration fee paid for each. However, they may wish to install the Service at one branch and use internal procedures to verify ECS Cardholders' details.

The registration form can be viewed and printed here.

Operation

The JIB will issue a CD-ROM at three monthly intervals which contains information relating to all operatives on the JIB database together with software to all members of the service to access the information. The information available will include JIB grade, membership of the ECS, main and additional disciplines in which the operative is registered and other additional qualifications held. Searches will be possible by National Insurance number and name - with the date of birth being available as a validation check. If installed on a network, the software is limited to three concurrent users.

The program interface. To display a record, type in the Operative's National Insurance Number and any record found will be displayed in the appropriate fields.

If a National Insurance Number is not known then a search can be carried out by pressing F4 on the keyboard and searching by name. A date of birth will also be displayed as a means of validation.

Conditions of Operation

The system will require the minimum of a PC with a Pentium processor, 64Mb of memory running a Windows operating system, an SVGA display capable of at least 256 colours at a resolution of 800x600 or higher and a CD reader. The system will require approximately 50Mb of hard disk to install itself.

No attempt must be made to use the information contained on the CD-ROM in any software application except that provided by the JIB.

The CD-ROMs will be virus checked before despatch, but it is the responsibility of users to ensure that no virus are attached to them.