NAPIT has called for changes in building regulations after a court heard a woman was electrocuted, saying the case highlighted longstanding concerns over the Qualified Supervisor model.

Emma Shaw, 22, died while dealing with a boiler leak. The electrical circuits in her flat in West Bromwich had previously been signed off as 'problem-free' by Neil Hoult, a Qualified Supervisor at Anchor Electrical & Building Services. However, he failed to identify that a screw had penetrated circuit 3, causing the metal frame behind a wall to become energised at mains voltage (230V).

The court found Mr Hoult guilty of one count of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, which led to the death of Ms Shaw – a verdict that NAPIT believes highlights the dangers inherent in the controversial approach to recognising electrical competence.

Mr Hoult’s colleague, Christopher Tomkins, an unqualified "electrician’s mate", was alleged to have filled out a form to show that circuits had been tested but was found not guilty and acquitted of one count of failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The judge told supervisor Mr Hoult: "You have been convicted of a grave breach of duty. The testing of electrical circuits is absolutely vital. You were responsible for the failures in checking paperwork. Because of your failures, and those of others who created this situation, you failed to detect a metal stud frame behind plasterboard at the house was live for a period of some 18 months. There was a leak in the boiler, the water soaked the carpet and that too became live and led to the inevitable death of Emma Shaw."

Mr Hoult, 53, was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine. The case lends weight to the recent recommendation by the Communities & Local Government Select Committee that competence requirements should be rolled out within five years for all those doing electrical work to which Part P applies.

NAPIT chairman Frank Bertie said: "The NAPIT Trade Association has consistently opposed the industry model of focusing on a Qualified Supervisor – a model that runs too great a risk of work being completed by installers who may neither be properly trained nor genuinely monitored.

"The evidence heard during the trial and the verdict that followed suggest Mr Tomkins was not properly trained and that was he was not genuinely monitored by Mr Hoult during what should have been a routine test.

"Lack of reasonable care by Mr Hoult in particular ultimately brought about the untimely death of Emma Shaw. However, the requirements of the competence landscape at the time also played their part in the tragedy. If Mr Tomkins had been required to be fully qualified or Mr Hoult had not been permitted to sign off the work of his colleague without directly supervising it, things may have turned out differently.

"Thankfully, progress towards rectifying this dangerous practice is being made in the form of recent recommendations by the CLG Select Committee to require all qualified supervisors to meet the standards – including qualifications – set out in the DCLG Conditions of Authorisation for Competent Person Schemes within the next 10 years. The final verdict of this long-running case clearly emphasises the need for change and the NAPIT Trade Association urges the government to act decisively to introduce individual competence.”