FEATURE TRAINING
CONTINUOUS EDUCATION M
As an experienced generation of electricians retires and new technologies emerge, ongoing education is required to satisfy NEC Code and win jobs
ore than ever today, continuous education is the lifeblood of
electrical contractors – it is necessary not only for doing business but also for staying on top of industry trends. Technologies – such as LED lighting, lighting controls, and whole home automation, as well as advances in generators and transformers – increasingly require ongoing education from electricians to win bids, meet demand, and stay competitive. As such, filling any gaps in knowledge is essential to successfully take on jobs, meet code, and get referrals.
RAPID VETERAN RETIREMENT Complicating matters, veteran electricians are rapidly retiring, leaving many trainees with the challenge of meeting NEC Code largely without experienced mentors and traditional apprenticeships. Even when contractors are familiar with electrical codes, this does not mean that they have the expertise or hands on experience to select a variety of equipment new to the industry or size, install, or diagnose specialised industrial/commercial equipment. To meet construction deadlines, electrical contracting firms also often require a team that is cross trained in various skillsets. Training in safety techniques can also be a matter of life and death for electricians. For instance, arc flashes are some of the most deadly incidents within the electrical industry, and two-thirds of arc flashes are the result of worker error. With apprenticeships and on the job
training increasingly scarce as experienced electricians retire, the gap in qualified instruction is not filled with video instruction alone. Video training and webcasts can be ad hoc, incomplete, and lack the ability of providing hands on instruction, correction, and interaction.
SUCCESSFUL TRAINING As a solution, the best way to be taught remains in person, hands on, classroom instruction by the most experienced and qualified instructors in the industry. Optimally, master electricians trained in the code with decades of experience provide needed instruction and practical guidance. “Technology has changed in recent years so electricians of any age, even
30 MARCH 2019 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
experienced ones, have trouble keeping up without ongoing training,” says Matt Stumpf, vice president of operations, Partners Electric Service, an electrical contractor for industrial, commercial, and government related projects. Stumpf points to lighting controls with addressable systems, daylight sensors, occupancy sensors, dimming capabilities. “Lighting controls and fixture packages are about 30-40 per cent of any electrical contractor’s business these days and growing. It is also only getting more technical. With smart buildings and intelligent networked systems, every device needs to communicate, as well as be programmed by remote, laptop, or smartphone,” he says. While this market sector is one of the fastest growing for electrical contractors, a lack of ongoing training is a recipe for problems. “Without competent training, lighting is the number one place that contractors can waste labor, time, and money on costly callbacks,” says Stumpf. “Every lighting controls manufacturer does things a bit differently. To keep up to date, Stumpf’s electricians recently took a class with CapitalTristate (soon to be Capital Electric), an electrical distributor serving the Mid-Atlantic States that is dedicated to a series of in-person training sessions on a variety of subjects. The provider trained 27 of Stumpf’s electricians onsite. “The instructor went over all the
products of a leading lighting controls manufacturer: what they do, how they work together, how they are wired, the signals sent to different areas, etc.,” says Stumpf. According to Stumpf, the goal was to train his electricians until working with the products of all the major lighting controls manufacturers becomes second nature to them.
ACQUIRING PRACTICAL EXPERTISE While electricians may have familiarity with code, without needed technical expertise in sizing, installation, and troubleshooting, they can still waste time
For
and labour trying to deal with an issue or diagnose a problem that they do not truly understand. “When a generator isn’t running, it is usually a different reason for every one because all the brands have their own operational peculiarities in the field, so you really need to brush up on the technical end of it,” says Ed Walsh, owner of Walsh Electric, an electrical contractor that services commercial, industrial, residential, and government related projects. Walsh had his electricians take a
those in the industry
that take advantage of ongoing professional
education to become good, qualified electricians, the sky is the limit in terms of opportunity"
CapitalTristate generator course to enhance their technical expertise. This covers all the basic codes to properly select and install an optional standby system generator, and teaches the accepted methods permitted in the National Electrical Code (NEC) for sizing a permanently installed generator, as well as the proper methods for using each. “The class puts you in a challenging
troubleshooting setting, so you can learn to find and efficiently fix problems,”
says Walsh. Recently, Walsh sought to deepen
his understanding of grounding and bonding. This is a key fundamental of professional electricians that is not always fully understood or correctly implemented in the field. So Walsh took a seminar on the subject instructed by Master Electrician and Retired Chief Electrical Inspector Wayne Robinson through CapitalTristate, which walks electricians through the often confusing NEC rules for electrical grounding and bonding to ensure long-term safety and reduced maintenance. Robinson, who has instructed numerous
NEC Code courses over the past 30 years, provides some perspective on the state of the industry and the need for ongoing professional education.“Today our industry is severely lacking qualified people to do the work and there is so much demand,” says Robinson. “Yet we are losing experienced electricians and foremen to retirement so they cannot mentor apprentices and journeymen on the job. For those in the industry that take advantage of ongoing professional education to become good, qualified electricians, the sky is the limit in terms of opportunity,” he concludes.
CapitalTristate
capitaltristate.com
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