Hi All,
The reason we originally got involved in this thread was because our integrity and the validity of this case study was questioned. To get drawn into a debate about long and short courses is pointless because in our view people taking training are always to be supported by doing the right thing, but as a specialist electrical training provider we will always deliver the courses that current legislation and the customer demands, we just train people in currently available qualifications, we don't decide who can work in the industry.
I think what you mean here is, You will always take advantage of supplying the lowest standard of C&G qualification possible, claiming that is all that is required by the legislation. What do we care, we don't decide if these people we have trained are suitably trained to be working in any particular sector on their own.
''people taking training are Always supported by doing the right thing'' Yes, ...unless that training doesn't and/or can't deliver the levels required, to be fully competent in that profession !!!
In fact – Let’s be frank, the electrical installation industry is in practice unregulated as anyone can do anything, anywhere. As long as there is no requirement for a licence to practice as an electrician or competent installer it will continue to be the case; a completely untrained unqualified person of any age can go into a DIY store or any electrical wholesalers and buy anything, consumer units, power showers the lot and go and fit it anywhere, flying under the radar of the Part P regs which are let’s face it, poorly policed.
Again, you take full advantage of the electrical industry not being adequately regulated!! Were not talking about the DIY'ers here, they have been around forever, we are talking about those people that go through training establishments such as your own, come out the other end after 19 day's and are not that much better, than the better DIY'er... Unfortunately most seem to think they are fully trained, i can only surmise, they have been led to believe this by the training centers they have attended...
Our view is that people who join the industry, get qualified, get trained, get registered, get insurance, pay taxes are the good guys. You cannot conceivably stop the many thousands of associated trades from installing electrics, literally tens of thousands of small businesses would go bust if you did. The Aircon engineer or conservatory builder or pool engineer will never undertake a full 3 year apprenticeship and in any case only 5% of electrical contractors have the ability to take on apprentices, so who would they do their NVQ with? We train these types of small business people and are proud to support them, as we do existing electrical contractors. The greater majority of people who stand in the wholesalers queues everyday are neither properly trained nor qualified in any way. Its our view and we lobby those decision makers on your behalf, that anyone installing electrics should be legally required to be at least registered competent, until then, any discussions on forums though understandable are merely moans and irrelevant.
No-one ever told you, that a little knowledge is worse than no-knowledge?? An aircon technician hopefully would have had appropriate training from day one, which would have covered both applied and practical electrical credits attached to the relevant C&G or diploma to their industry. Are you seriously advocating training a general builder, kitchen fitter, plumber etc in snippets of electrical installation?? So what was so very wrong in the past, where these totally unrelated trades, hired a qualified electrician to undertake the electrical works on these small contracts?? In real terms all you have done for the electrical industry, is to under value and de-value the overall status of the Real Qualified Electricians in the UK!!
I was just wondering why, your all for a Registered Licensing system for electricians in the UK, then it dawned on me, all those under trained inexperienced so-called Domestic Installers that the training centers have been churning out by the thousands, will all ''Require'' further qualifications and NVQ3's in order to become a qualified licensed electrician, every angle covered, What!!! lol!!!
Why don’t you try and positively contribute to change things?
We have considered starting an e petition to parliament re licencing of electricians, would there be support for that if we set it up?
Carl Bennett
MD Trade Skills 4U