Are Electricians Being De-Valued?

[skirby]

Having worked as an electrician for over 30 years and I've seen a lot of changes since the 14th Edition of the Regs. It seems to me that electricians are no longer valued highly enough for the work they do and the training they have to undertake. Here's how I see things today...

Constant Changes

I accept that electrical safety regulations have to change to keep up with new technology and as a working electrician I need to update my knowledge. But electricians seem to be thrown an increasing amount of hoops to jump through and are expected to pay for the extra time and effort it takes, just to keep doing their job. It takes a good deal of dedication to get trained up and start out as a qualified sparks in the first place and the constant updating and re-issuing of BS7671 Wiring Regs and related courses is a serious bone of contention amongst electricians.

This would be great if we were being paid accordingly but in my experience we are just seen as another trade as far as rates of pay are concerned. Operating as a fully qualified electrician (especially running your own business) has changed from being a regular construction trade job to something far more involved but in my opinion electricians have been de-valued.

Would I recommend anyone to become an electrician today?

Yes I would. Being an electrician an interesting and challenging job and a cut above other trades as for as knowledge and responsibility is concerned (I suppose you’d call that job prestige?). By working for a company (or sub-contracting) where all the paperwork and training is organised for you it can still be a great career.

But in the present economic climate I wouldn’t recommend starting out in the domestic sector or going down the Part P route running your own small business. That’s partly what I do now. It’s interesting going through the process but a lot of effort to deal with all the paperwork, test sheets and registering jobs. On top of all that you’ve got to deal with customers, compete for work and make enough money to earn a living, which isn’t easy at the moment.

Regulation Overkill ?

As I mentioned before, in my experience most people view electricians as just another trade. I think we have respect but aren’t really appreciated for the service we provide (do I hear violins?). Very few builders, carpenters, decorators and plumbers have to update their qualifications or give any sort of certification for their work or may be held accountable the safety of end users of their installations in the same way as electricians. It’s not uncommon to come across plumbers who have de-registered for gas work and just concentrate on the plumbing. They don’t consider the cost (and aggravation) of re-training for a gas cert every few years is worth the effort. It’s also not uncommon to come across electricians who are considering leaving the trade due to over-regulation.

Over the past 20 years we’ve seen that whole industry has evolved around training, testing and regulating electricians and I guess that’s what upsets experienced sparks the most. I’m in favour of updating and improving my skills but when you’re at the recieving end of endless demands for re-training and updating your regs books you’d like to feel that you are actually adding to your value as an electrician, rather than simply keeping yourself in a job.

It seems to be a matter of- “If you want to be in the game you’ll simply have to play by the rules”. The electrical industry is a prime target for regulation overkill and maybe you need to have been around for a while to appreciate how deep it reaches.

The Future

In summary I’m saying, there should be regulation but not so much of it, it should cost us less, and we should be paid a fair wage for what we do. I guess it’s up to us to make sure we get all of these things.

Despite this, youngsters coming into the trade won’t know any different and they’ll take it all in their stride. Electricians and electrical work will always require some sort of regulation and re-training as technology evolves. That’s the nature of the electrical industry.

There will always be electricians and hopefully they will be respected for their knowledge and experience in years to come. An electrician’s life won’t be easy but I hope they will be valued enough to be paid an acceptable rate for doing a responsible and essential job.

We're all in this together. Do you feel de-valued and are you concerned about the over regulation of the electrical industry and the way it affects you as an electrician?

 

[Chris Whitehead]

Of course electricians are under valued. Its the state of affairs. Everybody must have heard their boss say 'you should be lucky your in a decent job nowadays', which is true I suppose. I do wonder if employers are taking advantage of the situation - loads of people looking for work will drive the wages down what ever the profession.

As for health and safety - we all say H&S has gone mad, but than so has accidents, dangerous practices, tight-wad bosses who think training courses are an unnecessary expense, and litigation costs, all gone mad.

It only started getting worse since bosses were liable to prosecution. They are all seeking buffer zones between them and any accidents by tonnes of paper work. Took me a full day to get an isolation permit yesterday. I just think its funny ridiculous, no point in stressing over it. the responsibility is off me now - good! Its gonna get worse too. If you don't like it now, give it another five years and you'll be hanging up your test-leads.

I find the work place is all a little confusing nowadays, lots of experts with opinions on how it shoud be done, ego-battling between each other, where as twenty years ago you had one person/inpsector that was independant and insisted the job was done right, if not do it again. No one is allowed the time to do this anymore. We are all working to full capacity with more responsibility and more paperwork its no wonder we are having more accidents nowadays, despite all this H&S in place.

Good post, surprised its not got more response.

 

[sparkdog]

One thing that put me off going back to being an electrician is the over attention on legal implications.It seems like you can't change a light bulb now without being held legally liable.I don't remember having much attention on legal implications when I was an apprentice in the 1960s.This thing of having to have a new regs book and all the guide books just because of a few amendments seems absolutely nuts to me.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

because now we have no real industrys left....the only thing for it now is to invent some...like `elf n safety....the claims boom and all the rest of it.....at least its an admission by the powers that be that theres nowt left but to invent rubbish and red tape as a means of duping a gullable public....its illusionist and fake...nowt else....and its costing this country seriously in its ability to compete and attract business.....prospective business will take one look at all this crap were saddled with....and just go elseware...or worse still jump ship.....

 

[Arnold Layne]

skirby, thank you for your interesting and thought provoking post! Chris is correct, surprised there are not more responses because I think your views deserve some. So I will offer some thoughts...Firstly is there such a thing as the Electrical Industry and if there is, what does it include? Certainly there are Electricians ( but there is no standard qualification or training which allows anyone to call themselves an electrician) Secondly there are electricians working in a variety of industries/sectors... Construction, Health, Education, Nuclear to name but a few. All of these Industries have different requirements be they technical, legal or related to Health and Safety. Having different requirements they also have different pay rates, so the rate depends on the sector you work in ,not how you describe yourself.

I think most would agree that an electrician wiring domestic properties would not need the same technical or H&S understanding as someone working on nuclear ( pyro, SWA,MV/HV is not normally associated with house wiring), so are we the same and should we be paid the same rate?

You also make an excellent point about employment status. Those employed by a company have all of their training paid for. Those self employed do not. Those running their own businesses need to know what training they and their staff require, pay for it and deal with VAT, HMRC, Insurance, Sales etc ( are they business managers or electricians for the purpose of determining pay or skill requirements?)

Are Doctors an individual entity? ( I am making a comparison here) No they are not. Some work in the Healthcare Sector, others work in Commerce, Education, Sports etc. Are they paid the same? I think not..it is Sector specific. But let's talk Healthcare, there are GPs, Heart Specialists, Skin Specialists and A&E Specialists. All have undertaken a medical degree, but to specialise have taken further extensive training/education. Would you go to a skin Specialist for Open Heart Surgery? No, you would want a Heart specialist and if you were paying you would expect to pay more for a Heart specialist than someone who had completed the basic training( a basic medical degree) Are things different with electricians..? well I don't think so.

So electricians come with various skills and knowledge. They work in a variety of sectors. They operate under different employment relationships. They are a diverse and wonderful group. Can they be paid the same rate?( and I'm not suggesting that this is what you are saying, but what is an acceptable rate across such a diverse group with differing qualifications) Is there an educational standard beyond the basic core? And is it not the case that while some sectors are over regulated, others are under-regulated ( and the people doing the work in both of these types of sectors would describe themselves as electricians).

Thank you again for a very thought provoking post!

 

[johnboy6083]

I think we are undervalued, but also becoming less skilled. Fair enough we have to learn new regs every now nad then, but IMO a basic electrician has less skills than one about years ago. This is a lot to do with the way we are employed, and the fact that people seem to take less carein what they do. On large jobs, you dont have to think, and in some cases are moaned at if you do. Many electricians do not really understand the theory behind what they do, and in some cases its a wonder they manage to become sparks at all.
I thnink that its wrong that an electrician can serve an apprenticeship carrying out one particular type of work, and as JTL provide the apprenticeships, it would be a good thing all around if the apprentices were moved to a different company every year. This would mean we had more rounded sparks.

I think that some fo the most skilled sparks qwe have are in the maintenance sector, and the one man bands that work across different sectors. Maintenance sparks are often on poor pay compared with the installation jobs, but they get better terms and conditions, (im waiting for tony to disagree lol), job security, and a defined career path.

those are some of my thoughts.

 

[skirby]

Thanks for your thoughts chaps.
I wouldn't suggest that different grades or skill levels of electricians shold be paid the same at all. Electrical work covers a vast range of technical abilities specialities. My point was that we seem to have been de-valued when compared to other trades in the construction industry.

Nowdays I mainly work in the domestic sector along side other trades. They are earning about the same as me without all the red tape. Their evenings aren't spent filling out test sheets and registering jobs. No annual subscriptions or inspections for them (apart from maybe gas fitters). Although I do expect all this as part of being an electrician I'm sure things used to be easier.

I guess it's a sign of the times that we're all under pressure if we're running our own businesses, as Chris says above- "We are all working to full capacity with more responsibility and more paperwork". To be fair to the other trades I expect a lot of them are feeling de-valued at the moment too. I sense that something seriously needs to give before we all hit rock bottom.

 

[ralph]

Excellent post.

I agree with all the sentiments expressed. Its seems strange with the constant requirements to pass exams and get cards to prove a person can do the work they have been for years that the skill levels are decreasing.
Especially when you go on some site, and wiring two-way switch poses a problem for some electricians. It is almost if being a fully qualified electrician goes against person into days market.

Personally I would be in favour of reducing the required exams and paper work and replacing with a licensing system. For instance, once a person has completed their apprenticeship or training, every three years a one day appraisal would be required to test knowledge and practical skills.

If the tests where set at the right level, and only people passing the tests could do electrical work, this might solve some of our problems.

 

[Engineer54]

Excellent post.

I agree with all the sentiments expressed. Its seems strange with the constant requirements to pass exams and get cards to prove a person can do the work they have been for years that the skill levels are decreasing.
Especially when you go on some site, and wiring two-way switch poses a problem for some electricians. It is almost if being a fully qualified electrician goes against person into days market.

Personally I would be in favour of reducing the required exams and paper work and replacing with a licensing system. For instance, once a person has completed their apprenticeship or training, every three years a one day appraisal would be required to test knowledge and practical skills.

If the tests where set at the right level, and only people passing the tests could do electrical work, this might solve some of our problems.

There is no supplement for having the required qualifications in today's world. What is needed is a set down officially recognised set of qualifications, that is needed to be called a qualified electrician. That should also be underpinned by a recognised period of on site experience that can either be run concurrently with your academic training or undertaken after that training.

I certainly agree wholeheartedly with the need for a National Register of Qualified Electricians, which would also effectively end the role of these cash hungry Scam Providers, whose sole existence, is to confirm competence (to which they have failed miserably).

 

[malcolmsanford]

We are never ever going to regain the status we had when I first came into the industry that i'm afraid is fact.

Over the years the industry as segmented to such a degree that there is very few "full" electricians just bits and bobs.

We have Domestic Installers, fire alarm engineers, off shore, on shore, explosive and the list goes on and on. Now we are at the stage of where you need to be trained to be a meter fixer, for crying out loud 4 cables .......................it is mind blowing.

Why is our industry in such a shambles, well that is easy John hit it on the head, no industry. The much maligned coal mines, steel factories, ship yards produced tradesmen, real tradesmen. I can still see my foreman and the lads working on everything. fire alarms, Compex SWA. MICC, signals, containment access controls, logic system the list goes on and on and I was trained the same.

Now we have 5 weeks to become an domestic installer, you can get fire alarm courses and to run a fire alarm system in and soon you will get a 6 week course on how to be an commercial only sparks.

What was once a trade that was top of the tree, is now not even on the tree. Too many things have happened to us that makes old codgers like me look back and weep for what we have lost, and too late to do anything about it really.

 

[skirby]

Thanks Guys. I'm trying to get the full picture and something is developing here. But how do you feel compared to other trades?

 

[bugsy]

one word ---YES

The question is why are we being undervalued / skills we hold not taken into relevance

 

[sedgy34]

Its becoming more apparent all the books and the re training keeping upto date on things, insurances and accreditations all these things are called overheads and you get screwed down to the penny to earn a living. this is because people do work for nothing and the part p allowed kitchen fitters /plumbers/chippies to mess with electrics not forgetting the sparkys not registered who coin it in and leave a job having not certified it. WHAT CHANCE DO YOU HAVE

 

[Des 56]

Its probably much harder for us older electricians to come to terms with what has happened and what will be a continuous journey into the unknown
It has been a journey from high rewards and community respect to overburdened also rans in the present societies eyes

A shame really,but I suspect, its a fallen trade that cant be rebuildmcertainly not with the respect it once had

 

[Adam W]

I definitely feel under-appreciated in my current job - everyone gets paid the same including people with no formal qualifications who spend all day cutting wires to prescribed lengths and taping them together, or clipping wagos into adaptable boxes. Well in fact they get paid more than me because I work via an agency.
In the past people with no electrical qualifications have come from other trades and had a go at pulling wires which for some reason seems to be perfectly acceptable whereas there is no way I could suddenly decide I'm a chippy, deck fitter or laminator. Presumably for this reason putting a bit of flex on a fluorescent batten to make a work light has to be done by 'maintenance' even though they probably have less qualifications than the rest of us. If I tried isolating a circuit and extending a ring I'd probably get fired.

As for a 'licensing system' I think that is a bit pie in the sky - people's problem with the JIB skills card seems to be that they have worked as an electrician for years but only have the technical certificate and college based qualifications to get a trainee card. Remember the problem with 5WWs seems to be that they are going out and working on their own without any previous experience, just 5 weeks learning the theory and practical on mock installations in a workshop in a training centre; if there were some alternative card which calls someone an 'electrician' who hasn't completed the NVQ3 and therefore has proven to a certain extent that they are competent to work in the field there will be no way of distinguishing someone who is competent at what they are doing and has a proven track record from someone who had a desk job up until 6 weeks ago, then did a 5 week 'intensive' course.

 

[benji]

it started going down hill when the JIB started ( i have never known a spark to say they voted for it )

 

[alarm man]

it started going down hill when the JIB started ( i have never known a spark to say they voted for it )

sparks were the cream of the industry when the jib started,everyone wanted or pretended to be a spark,the benefits were way ahead of any other trade

 

[robsparky1975]

I think that the introduction of the part p has helped devalue the industry,yes its domestic but all those quick courses have pumped out 1000s of "sparks" or mates the agencies have no idea that these short courses dont give people knowledge of anything other than domestic,so there is just to much supply, in turn just pay some crap £12 an hour,it seems that scaffolders are valued more.my dad is semi retired sparks and he keeps bringing up stories of the good old days,alas no way they will return,sure your post has pretty much put forward what most of us feel.

 

[Dave 85]

To the OP....
I know what you are getting at, its all a bit of a p*** take the constant regs updates and what not but I dont let it get to me. I'm the type of person that if I dont agree with something, Im not gonna go out of my way to pay too much attention to it. That said I take a lot of pride in my work and always ensure everything I install is as safe as it can possibly be.
Im young and have only ever known the post part P days but personally I dont have a problem with the way things are. I've been self employed since I was 22 and always done Ok out of it. Most of the electricians I know still make significantly more money than other trades.

I understand this does not represent the industry as a whole and that there are self employed experienced qual'd sparkies out there working for next to nothing but thats life....
Heres the way I see it....
The western world is f**ked...
Its not a reccession thats magically gonna dissapear one day and we'll all be rich again....
Its just f**ked.
Noone can get a job in the UK anymore, every tom dick and harry has a degree which isn't worth the paper its printed on. Then they hear these rumours that electricians make good money...Funnily enough its always the response I get when I tell somoeone my job "oooh good money..." in a rather patronizing way, I can't see them saying that to stockbrokers but hey ho....
So now everybody wants to be a spark and these training centres are cropping up and noone realises that training alone doesn't magically make you a competent spark so the countries now flooded with highly qualified but inexperienced sparks....
So yeah the moneys no good anymore for site/agency work...
But all trades are suffering its not just ours...

Personally I am glad I became a spark and would never do anything else. I like the work, the responsibility, the money..... hell I even like part P.

 

[Smudge]

reading through all these comments has just shown me both how lucky i am, and the sort of bubble i must be living in. I've not been in the game that long in comparrison to most (<15years), and i haven't done any qualifiacations outside my apprenticeship, approved and 17th. I wouldn't even know where to go to find out what quals i am meant to have before i were to do certain jobs. I live and work in Scotland, and frankly, the talk of Part P bewilders me.
I originally started as a spark in the army, and had to re-do a proper apprenticeship when i came out as my qualifications (basically nothing) didn't cross over. I worked domestic through my time, and now work industrial 'maintenance'.
I am the electrical supervisor at a factory, and for example, for a comparrison, one guy is 25 years old and another is 58years old. The younger of the 2 is always asking to be sent on courses and if i get granted the funding from the directors, i send him. The older guy, i basically had to force him to go sit his 17th edition exam. His attitude was that he served his time nearly 40 years ago and that is enough. Regs etc don't come into it with his attitude. And dare i say it, even with all this guys experience, how can that be proved without documentation? He could of done his trade 40years ago and worked as a baker for 30years before he came here for all i know.

This is where i agree with the point that a lisence, or a register should be properly introduced with annual/biannual or whatever assessments. Then, everyone would know where they stand, what they need to do to achieve this.

Back to the OP, this is where i feel lucky...it's a great point and very thought provoking, but i seem to have side-stepped the comotion (for now) of the building trade by working in the relative safety of industrial maintenance.