SELECT, the trade body for Scotland’s electrical sector, is stepping up its campaign to make it a legal requirement for electricians to be regulated by the Scottish Parliament.

It is launching a widespread media campaign to highlight the dangers of using unqualified people to carry out electrical work and to press for official recognition of electricians as a profession.

SELECT will use major Scottish regional newspapers, radio stations across the country and railway station posters to disseminate the message that regulation of the profession is key to increasing safety as well as being wholly justified.

Government statistics have shown that 69% of all accidental fires in Scottish homes are caused by electricity and unqualified workers pose a distinct and continuing threat to safety in Scottish homes.

The campaign, which will run over the spring and summer of 2017, will emphasise the length of training that electricians undertake and the benefits of regulation with a focus on the aspect of safety.

Alan Wilson, SELECT’s head of communications and membership services, said: “Electrical installations are extremely complex and they underpin modern life. Working with electricity cannot be undertaken in a cavalier fashion.

“Every year, fires arising from dangerous electrical installations endanger - and sometimes cost - lives and load costs on to insurance companies and emergency services.

“That is why it is so important that the Scottish Parliament leads the way in ensuring that trades people who go into people’s homes or businesses know how to conduct themselves in a safe and professional manner.”

SELECT will also employ the massive communications firepower of social media sites such as Twitter to further promote its regulation campaign.

SELECT’s aim is the delivery of the highest standards of professionalism and workmanship. It promotes constant improvement to meet this goal. It believes that the industry should ensure basic standards of safety and competence so that any customer can rely on any electrician they may employ.

SELECT has more than 1200 member businesses which operate all across Scotland.