[ Viewpoint: Cabling and jointing ]
What specifi c expertise and equipment is needed? From an outsider’s perspective, it’s easy to think ‘anyone can pull a cable’, but there is a high level of skill involved, and you have to have the correct plant to do the work.
The equipment used includes heavy-duty equipment and vehicles such as tractors, trailers and winches, plus test equipment such as a pressure test set and fault location test equipment. These days, cabling fi rms do the full package of work including the civil side – that is, digging the trenches, then laying the cables before back-fi lling and terminating the cables. From a skills perspective, a cabling operative needs to be able to have a working knowledge of the whole process of installing cables, including the preparation, installation and termination of cables and testing procedures on both high and low voltage systems.
How has the sector been affected by the current economic climate? The climate has certainly generated a knock-on effect down through the supply chain. Some smaller companies have gone into receivership, as they discover they can’t do the job for the rates they have agreed. The downturn has also affected the way business is
run. Employers have to work to the rulebook more rigidly in terms of pay and hours. In boom times, pay and hours were plentiful; in harder times, businesses have to work more strictly to the national rules. Some contractors are using different methods to adapt and survive. Rather than doing the full package of works, companies may bid for smaller works, such as terminating the cable, rather than the full process. Contractors are also moving men from job to job in much smaller time frames, as the economic climate makes it harder for companies to take on more operatives.
What major issues are affecting the sector at the moment?
Establishing a recognised training structure for our workforce is one of the sector’s top priorities.
Historically, cable manufacturers trained people as jointers, or the electricity boards had their own recognised courses. But today there are few UK-based cable manufacturers left, and the electricity boards – or, now, district network operators (DNOs) – don’t train and don’t have training courses for other contractors on which to enroll staff. There are some DNOs who provide a limited amount of training through colleges. So, at present, a lot of training is done in-house, or employees are sent to manufacturers for specialist training. As a sector, we want a formal qualifi cation and training structure to recognise the professionalism and skills of our workforce.
One of our larger members, FB Taylor, based in Ripon, has pioneered an NVQ for structured cabling with a local technical college and has qualifi ed its workforce to NVQ 2 and NVQ 3. We’re now working with SummitSkills to develop a national qualifi cation for cable jointing. It’s vitally
FB Taylor cable installation at NGC Transco at St Fergus
Cabling and jointing contractors often invest heavily in specialist plant
important that we acknowledge the skills of our employees by developing common standards for our sector.
How are technology requirements changing? About the author
Chris Skelley Chris Skelley, managing director of Metricab Power Engineering, is currently chair of the JIB Cabling and Jointing committee.
The power cabling sector had expanded greatly. In general, the industrial and commercial market has seen a huge increase in the amount of power required, thanks to developments in areas like air-conditioned buildings and data centres. In the 1960s, an average offi ce building would run on a 400amp supply; now, because of all equipment and air conditioning, that same building would need a 2MW supply. The capacity for data centres seems ever increasing – even
ECA Today September 2012 57
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