Relevance of Electrical Services Engineers in Construction and Building Services

Abstract

It is now a common phenomenon in building services that some builders/clients call for the services of the electrical contractor/technicians to carry out an electrical installation without the provision or availability of standard electrical services drawings, at times due to the negligence of the builder/client about the importance of electrical services drawings or in other to reduce cost, which is detrimental and hazardous to the building, pieces of equipment installed or the occupants in the future. This paper analyses the relevance of electrical services engineers in construction and building services. A well-structured online survey was adopted and shared with different engineering platforms where building and construction professionals are to know the practice at various building and construction sites, and a total of 230 responses were collected, the data collected were examined using the descriptive statistics method with good pictorial representation. The result of the survey shows that 20% of the respondents complained about the absence of electrical services drawings, 38% complained that the electrical services drawings provided are not practicable, and 42% of the respondents talked about the availability of relevant electrical services drawings. The analysis from this study confirms that several electrical installations were carried out without the provision of practicable electrical services drawings, especially in domestic installations. It is recommended that the services of qualified electrical services engineers should be employed for standard electrical services drawings, which will give detailed information about the method of wiring, the suitable size/type of distribution, and the protection scheme for lighting and power installations in conformity with the appropriate standard and regulations for effective and well-balanced electrical services.