Roofing

Contractor’s Column
Participate in Legislation
It Affects Us All
Tony Burke, Managing Director at Avonside Group Services
“Nearly all legislation is the result of compromise”
Joseph Gurney Cannon
Legislation is a hot topic.
The current Brexit debate, which will lead us all to
participate in the Referendum on 23rd June this year
is about many things: it’s about the way we choose to
live our lives as a nation; it’s about who we want to
come into the UK, in what circumstances and for how
long; it’s also about how much tax we contribute and
how it is spent; it’s about our infrastructure and how
it’s funded. The question will come down to what we
feel is going to be the best route for the UK to prosper
in the long-term, and the best way to deliver it.
Ultimately, it’s about how we legislate – and who
legislates - on behalf of the people - and which variety
of democracy we want to live under.
In comparison to many parts of the world, the fact that
we have this choice makes us very privileged and, like
many mature democracies, we tend to take it for
granted. We grumble and moan about all the things
we disagree with concerning new rules and
regulations, but how many of us are actually prepared
to get involved to try and make a difference?
As in life, so in business.
We tend to leave these things to ‘people who know
best’, but who are these people? The reality is -as the
individuals and companies responsible for roofing
installations - we are the people who know best! Why,
then, do we take this somewhat passive approach,
and then live with the consequences of what others
provide us with?
Can I firstly say, that this article is in no way an
attack on those well-meaning and, in many cases,
well-informed bodies and individuals that help
produce new legislation. It’s far more of a plea for
those of us that are engaged in the profession to get
involved in areas that affect us day-in and day-out,
areas that we can rightly claim to know more about
than anyone else.
The manufacturing sector is very good at participation
in legislative issues and this is a positive part of the
process; we can, and do, work very closely with our
suppliers in this respect. Manufacturers have the
benefit of operating as ‘hubs of knowledge’, whereas,
as contractors, we tend to operate more as ‘spokes on
the wheel’; we are more disparate and therefore distilling our views can be more
problematic.
So, a word here about our representative bodies: the National Federation of Roofing
Contractors (NFRC) the Institute of Roofing (IOR) and the Single Ply Roofing
Association (SPRA), have an excellent pedigree in this respect. They have access and
influence to key decision-makers and legislators, and when those agencies want a
view from ‘the roofing contractor’, they are invariably the people who are contacted.
The good news is that trade representatives are eager for your input. They have
structures, feedback mechanisms and committees designed just for this purpose – so
why not engage?
In recent months, we have seen BS5534 being introduced as the dominant piece of
new legislation that will affect the installation of roofing over the next decade. Can
each of us say, with honesty, that we a) understand it fully and, b) we contributed our
views to it? If not, then why not, as we shall certainly be living with it, and its
consequences, for the foreseeable future.
In general terms, BS5534 seems, from my perspective, to be a largely sensible and
applicable document, but as always, there are certain issues that we would like to see
amended to recognise the practicalities of installation, and in this we have had
excellent support from our trade bodies.
So, my appeal to you, is to get involved. No matter what level of the industry you are
operating at, you have a view that is worth contributing.
Ultimately, as the saying goes ‘people get the legislation (government) they deserve’
and the same is true for sectors of industry. Let’s try and make sure we get good
representative legislation for the UK roofing sector.
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Roofing Today
Enquiry 41