Help needed to keep working after knees gave out

[Brighton sparky]

Hi guys

Looking for any advice, ideas or suggestions to help me out of my predicament

My knees have given up on me - have been off work for two years now following a couple of knee ops and recovery times. Unfortunately it looks like I'm off the tools permanently as unable to do any low level stuff, carrying heavy items or get down to floor level etc. Having said that it's not all doom and gloom as can still walk around fine, manage stairs and steps and drive. Brain is still working fine as well !!

My problem is that I am not quite ready for retirment just yet; I love electrical work, the problem solving, fault findings, planning out of the jobs etc. and am reluctant to let it go.

Am 59 years of age with decades of electrical experience under my belt - 5 year apprenticeship served, worked mainly in commercial, industrial and building services sector. Am registered as Approved Electrician, have completed Inspection & Testing 2394/5 and Design 2396.

Was wondering if any of you out there have found yourselves in a similiar situation ?

Am going around in circles a bit with this one and any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated

Some of the ideas I've had to date are
- teaching/ training but not sure how to access this especially at my age and whether given all the cuts there are likely to be any openings for me in this sector
- mentoring for newly qualified sparks out on their own
- helping with electrical contractors who might be struggling with work loads and have tasks that I would be able to manage

Live on the south coast Brighton area

Any thought greatly appreciated - cheers

 

[GMES]

This may seem like an obvious solution but I'm guessing if you're approved this means you work for yourself, then why not just take on staff to do the heavy stuff and you do the day to day running of the business, getting work, pricing, dealing with wholesalers etc etc.

 

[stevey1983]

Become an assessor for nic, elesca, napit etc so long as your arms and mouth are ok for all the tea and biscuits you have to drink/eat

 

[PEG]

Hi dude,respect due,for airing your dilemma,and seeking an answer...even if you may have chosen a "mixed" bunch,of advocates...

Although staying in the industry,may seem obvious and necessary,please do not discount other trades and industries,which your skills and experience,could be put to advantage.

When considering the attributes,of a good sparky,such as familiarity with both construction and technical,dealing with customers,suppliers and "regulatory" considerations... there are many areas, where you could continue to prosper.

I can think of dozens of opportunities,and an angle to approach,but that is your call,not mine.

Good luck,and who knows,you could be Meggers' next front man...or a trading standards advisor...who would know...

...Please tell me you reckon on shaping better than that Tony Cable :smile5:

 

[UKMeterman]

Keep an eye on Job Search | Monster Job Site | Find Better | Monster.co.uk and Find 1000s of UK Jobs. Start your job search with Jobsite UK both are job boards. Look for inspection jobs or similar.

 

[ferg]

It sounds like you are being realistic about your predicament.

That's a fairly big step in itself.

Anecdotal evidence points to a lack of decent teachers and trainers due to the fact that they are not paid particularly well.

Possibly an urban myth though.

Employing enough people to pay your wages and theirs sounds good but in reality it's not that easy and statistically most people fail.

At 59 you are probably nowhere near ready to retire and still sharp enough to retrain as a teacher.

I'm only 42 and beginning to realise that I won't be able to do this for ever.

 

[UKMeterman]

Hi,
Avoid teaching in schools the staff turnover is huge, most can't hack even 3 years.

 

[ferg]

Hi,
Avoid teaching in schools the staff turnover is huge, most can't hack even 3 years.

I imagine the turnover for 59 year old electricians with totally knackered knees is a bit less than that.

 

[Jay Sparks]

You could do the Cert Ed course. This would qualify you to teach in a college/academy. It normally takes two years, part time to complete. But some universities might do this course for one year. You really only attend uni for one afternoon/evening a week and you must complete at least 100 hours of supervised teaching. This is done at your placement that your uni will find for you when you enroll on the course. The wages are Ok, around £25000 - £33000 p/a up here in Yorkshire.

Or you could do your assessor award (TAQA). This is also something that can be done fairly quickly, around 3 - 6 months and there are a few training centers that offer this for a fee of course but it is around £700 - £1200. With the government pushing apprenticeships, there are a few decent jobs out there and you can expect to earn around £25000 - £30000 p/a.

Now both these jobs require no heavy lifting, however, you will need some big brass b4lls to deal with the cocky little apprentices/students with their know it all attitudes.lol. But they're not all like that!

Good luck

Jay

 

[Brighton sparky]

Hi guys thanks for taking the time to reply much appreciated

Some good ideas

Jay - thanks for the info on the Cert ed courses - food for thought; although I may end up on Valium after nearly thumping a few of the kids now and then . Also the info on TAQA - will definitely look into this

As fern mentioned above for me to start a new business with employees etc. although sounding good in principle is not an option that is viable for me

Peg - thanks for your posting; will give it some thought about transferable skills sets - trading standards advisor hmmm??

Cheers for your responses - you " mixed bunch of advocates"
Will take this away and have a think

If anyone has any other ideas feel free to post any thoughts

 

[Brighton sparky]

p.s. Only kidding about thumping students

 

[Englishman]

Interesting thread, because I'm facing the end of my current career road due to my back issues. I'm 31. And not in the best place at the moment, other than being hopeful that I can be fixed. Realistically thinking, I need to look down a different path.

 

[BES]

Got a lot of sympathy for you. I had to give up sparking due to spine being knackered. Im now a house husband and after lots of practice can now iron two tops an hour

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Hi guys thanks for taking the time to reply much appreciated

Some good ideas

Jay - thanks for the info on the Cert ed courses - food for thought; although I may end up on Valium after nearly thumping a few of the kids now and then . Also the info on TAQA - will definitely look into this

As fern mentioned above for me to start a new business with employees etc. although sounding good in principle is not an option that is viable for me

Peg - thanks for your posting; will give it some thought about transferable skills sets - trading standards advisor hmmm??

Cheers for your responses - you " mixed bunch of advocates"
Will take this away and have a think

If anyone has any other ideas feel free to post any thoughts

I think Stevey's post above was a good one too BS. The Part P assessors (for NICEIC, Napit, Stroma etc) dont have to do any hard manual labour so your knees would be fine. They basically spend half a day looking through your paperwork and looking at a job you have done. You would have to read up on the regs a little regarding domestic work though as this may be a fair bit of the work.. that should be fun though

 

[Englishman]

Got a lot of sympathy for you. I had to give up sparking due to spine being knackered. Im now a house husband and after lots of practice can now iron two tops an hour [emoji16]

What's up with yours?

Got a scan this week to try and discover exactly what is happening, at least one herniated thoracic disc but almost certainly more herniations there and whatever else. Been off for two months and it's got worse, so surgery is an almost certainty, which I'm dreading, and then we'll go from there.

 

[BES]

Had the surgery nearly three years ago basicly rebuilt bottom third of spine usung titanium rods screws and cages. It was a new proceedured i was only second in uk to have it done had 25% chance of completly fixing it , 50% staying same and 25% making it worse. Although better not good enough to let me go back to physical work and sitting for long periods.

 

[Englishman]

Had the surgery nearly three years ago basicly rebuilt bottom third of spine usung titanium rods screws and cages. It was a new proceedured i was only second in uk to have it done had 25% chance of completly fixing it , 50% staying same and 25% making it worse. Although better not good enough to let me go back to physical work and sitting for long periods.

Apparently the top minds are now moving away from surgery in most cases as it often just moves the issue to a different art of the spine, and there is also a new, less invasive surgery that is starting to become common. I won't know the success rates until we see exactly what is going on, I'm hoping it will be good but don't know. The fact that in two months of rest, it's got worse, doesn't look good, but we will see.

Thoracic disc herniations are a certainty, and I think there is a lumbar and cervical herniation as well. The thoracic has caused it all though so in hoping that physio will cover the rest once the thoracic is sorted.

 

[BES]

Got it all on paper somewhere what was exactly the diagnoses had that many scans. Started off with injections into spine put on morphine patches for pain relief tried working again but just got worse then got offered this new proceedure. Biggest thing for me was the mental side of it all exepting that i couldnt do something i loved doing. Good luck to you.

 

[Dave OCD]

Hi guys thanks for taking the time to reply much appreciated

Some good ideas

Jay - thanks for the info on the Cert ed courses - food for thought; although I may end up on Valium after nearly thumping a few of the kids now and then . Also the info on TAQA - will definitely look into this

As fern mentioned above for me to start a new business with employees etc. although sounding good in principle is not an option that is viable for me

Peg - thanks for your posting; will give it some thought about transferable skills sets - trading standards advisor hmmm??

Cheers for your responses - you " mixed bunch of advocates"
Will take this away and have a think

If anyone has any other ideas feel free to post any thoughts

Sorry if this suggestion has been mentioned already but I've noticed that a fair few counter staff and even some managers in Electrical Wholesalers are ex Sparkies or have a link to the trade. Not sure if the money would be enough for you but with your knowledge and experience you'd be a real asset to a wholesaler, also you'd be dealing with the trade so could offer good advice and have a bit of banter.

 

[telectrix]

my sympathies to OP and other posters who have these problems. my back and knees can still cope, albeit with a struggle at times, and care being taken not to overdo things. still, can't grumble, got a 29 year old brain in a 69 year old body.

 

[Englishman]

Got it all on paper somewhere what was exactly the diagnoses had that many scans. Started off with injections into spine put on morphine patches for pain relief tried working again but just got worse then got offered this new proceedure. Biggest thing for me was the mental side of it all exepting that i couldnt do something i loved doing. Good luck to you.

Thank you my good sir.

The mental side is something that I've been coming to terms with for the last month, but I don't think it will help. Just looking forward to getting the whole spine scanned this week and seeing what's up. Just walking kills me at the moment, let alone doing any actual work.

 

[BES]

I can still do small jobs for freinds and family but it takes me all day sometimes longer !!! stopping and starting to do a job which used to take me an hour. Not really practical lol

 

[Richard Burns]

I have had a herniated lumbar disc partially removed by general surgery and this stopped the radiating pain for ten years, the muscular spasms still occurred in the back and I was stiff to move but could still manage OK.
Overall the surgery was not too bad but I did overdo it straight after, once they said I should get on and do things, so I had to have another bit of disc removed.
Last year I have had another bad episode and I am slowly recovering but I am slow at work. I have had an MRI scan showing slight lumbar herniation and overgrowth of bone; I am due to have a steroid injection in the nerve to try and narrow down the problem.
Best of luck with identification and resolution.

 

[NDG Elecs]

p.s. Only kidding about thumping students

From my college days the ADT lads on the same course always needed a good thumping. Once in morning and again after lunch!

Good luck BS, whatever you decide.

And after reading all the other posts on this thread good luck and health to everyone. I am yet to fall apart at the seams but can sense it is probably not that distant unfortunately.

 

[Englishman]

I have had a herniated lumbar disc partially removed by general surgery and this stopped the radiating pain for ten years, the muscular spasms still occurred in the back and I was stiff to move but could still manage OK.
Overall the surgery was not too bad but I did overdo it straight after, once they said I should get on and do things, so I had to have another bit of disc removed.
Last year I have had another bad episode and I am slowly recovering but I am slow at work. I have had an MRI scan showing slight lumbar herniation and overgrowth of bone; I am due to have a steroid injection in the nerve to try and narrow down the problem.
Best of luck with identification and resolution.

My pains started on and off back in July and August, all chest and stomach. The back pains was just a constant ache and didn't think the chest and stomach pain was related but have since found out it's a clear sign of thoracic disc herniation. Struggled through work but continued as usual.

And it's got a lot worse since November, I've now not worked for two months and it's showing no sign of improvement. Got a scan and consultation this week so should know what's going on soon. Other than the thoracic disc issues, it's hard to tell because pains could be muscle spasms rather than disc issues.