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FEATURE FIBRE AND CABLE
choose on price alone. Te industry has evolved, but the last time there were any changes to the City & Guilds syllabus was in 2000, and they are not recognised globally.’ Richard believes that a truly well skilled
worker should be able to go anywhere in the world and still be able to perform. ‘Many commercial training providers,’ he said, ‘are giving away bits of paper instead of competence, squeezing multiple courses into a five-day period so there is no ability to develop those skills to do a job to a reasonable standard. Tere are examples of the syllabus being out of date, and guided learning hours not being adhered to. Tis problem is exacerbated by the industry bodies who approve providers “doing the double”.’ As chairman of the British Standards
Committee on fibre optic systems (GEL86/3) for many years, Richard is well placed to advise when it comes to training standards. He has been involved with most of the international standards bodies for fibre optics at some time, including IEC, ISO/IEC, ITU and the TIA; and he wrote the definition of ‘fibre characterisation’ in ITU G.650.3. In addition,
Richard designed and developed the Certified Fibre Characterisation Engineer (CFCE) programme that has been running since 2005. OTT’s training and certification programmes are now delivered globally by licensed partner companies including Cross Connect Training, FiberGuide and Fiber Insight.
Nice to know, or need to know? ‘Now that things are taking off with FTTH, we need more skills,’ Richard concluded. ‘But it should be considered what learners actually need to know in order to fulfil the job role rather than “nice to know” stuff you may want to tell them. Tere are some providers not capable of doing that kind of analysis.’ Tom Ronan, regional product manager at
Viavi, believes that training on best practice, such as ‘inspect before you connect’ is essential, as is the ability to truly engage with the audience. ‘Any study of figures will show that the UK
is considerably behind the curve in FTTx rollout,’ he said, ‘not even making it onto the FTTH Council’s annual ranking, with a penetration currently estimated at 1.1million
The industry has evolved, but the last time there were any changes to the City & Guilds was in 2000, and they are not recognised globally
homes. Germany fares little better and even France is only around the average, which is two thirds down the table. In the UK, this is contributing to the estimated £11 billion-a- year productivity losses, caused by slow internet (according to Te Daisy Group). So, it’s not hard to see why everyone from governments down are putting the pressure on to install more fibre, which is great news for the fibre installation sub-contracting industry.’ Tom pointed out that BT has recently announced it will end its public switched
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