Unqualified, inexperienced badged "electricians"

[highspark]

How can we put an end to this drivel? Why is there people out there unqualified and inexperienced bluffing their way into work. Taking work from fully qualified time served lads?Theres a couple in my area. Driving round in vans with schemes tatooed all over them. They look the biz - the outfit. But I know they are not electricians. They are chancers bluffing their way through. The 17th Edition minimum requirement to have a schemes backing...its a farce. The problem I have is the customers can't differenciate from a fully qualified. 17th edition, 2391, tech cert nvq3 electrician from a 17th edition short course idiot! It boils my blood

 

[ipf]

I'm going back a very long time now, but when any one of our lines went down, the loss to the company was around 3000+ a minute!! After 3 minutes the engineering foreman was in place, ....5 minutes and the Plant Engineering Manager was there!! lol!! Which i might add, was a very rare occurance!!

Know what you mean E, I'm talking about a while ago. Chargehand, foreman, chief engineer with top management on your back. Oh the memories.lol. It was rare, yes, but we had to make sure it was.

 

[dixon9]

Try fault finding under pressure on a direct melt glass fibre production plant. If things aren't up and running within a couple of hours it's a couple of million ££££ down the swanny. I'm sure many more examples could be given by others in the know....

And the the irony is, is that I know EXACTLY what you mean. I HAVE tried fault-finding under pressure in these environments. Years of experience of it. I used to work in Maintenance on CNC and injection moulding machines.

 

[Engineer54]

Tony is a much respected member here, and has been in the heavy industrial electrical sector since entering the electrical industry. Man and boy , so to speak!! lol!!!

 

[ipf]

#

Do you honestly believe that a domestic electrician doesn't have to fault-find and often under pressure?!

You need to think again mate.

I'm not saying that!! Just compare the situations. I'm damn sure i wouldn't **** myself over a domestic fault.

 

[Engineer54]

#

Do you honestly believe that a domestic electrician doesn't have to fault-find and often under pressure?!

You need to think again mate.

What sort of pressure are you talking about here?? I'm honestly struggling to imagine a situation, that i would call fault finding under pressure in a domestic situation!! I'm not saying there isn't working under pressure at times, just can't imagine a comparison...

 

[dixon9]

I'm not saying that!! Just compare the situations. I'm damn sure i wouldn't **** myself over a domestic fault.

Well...depends upon your perspective. If a CNC lathe stops churning out connector housings, sure, it can cost the company thousands in lost production. On the plus side, the spark will often have some back-up and other support... as well as pressure from foreman and managers. If the fault is not found soon but later the spark will still receive full money in his wage packet at the end of the month.

A domestic spark also has to fault find under pressure. Imagine a family with no power...or heating....it's dark. Cant go home until the cause fo the tripping (for example) is found. And in many cases if the fault isn't found the spark WON'T get paid.

 

[dixon9]

What sort of pressure are you talking about here?? I'm honestly struggling to imagine a situation, that i would call fault finding under pressure in a domestic situation!! I'm not saying there isn't working under pressure at times, just can't imagine a comparison...

As if by magic.....see above

 

[Engineer54]

As if by magic.....see above

Not dismissing your comparison, but i think i could hook-up something safe, to see a family through the night and come back in the morning to sort it out properly!!

 

[Knobhead]

If the works engineering manager shows up on the job you know there’s trouble brewing.

When he’s passing cups of tea to you while your jambed in the back of a panel you know he’s on your side.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” He hadn’t a clue as to the fault, but knew we we’re in major trouble. My answer “Yes **** off and leave me alone”. He even stopped the site director from entering the substation!

A good boss will back you to the hilt! A bad one…….

 

[dixon9]

Not dismissing your comparison, but i think i could hook-up something safe, to see a family through the night and come back in the morning to sort it out properly!!

What would you hook up? A few portable lights? A fan heater? What would they use to cook with? You could rig up a temp board but the mum with a family to feed still wouldn't be that impressed with a few meagre sockets.... As with your situation, the domestic spark would still have to see it through, get back and fix it come hell or high water. And as I said previously, no fix often means no pay. I bet there's loads on here with stories similar to this example.

I hope now you can see a situation can arise of fault-finding under pressure - it's not just in the commercial/industrial environments.

 

[Octopus]

34 pages and counting, time to unsubsubscribe

 

[Heisenberg]

34 pages and counting, time to unsubsubscribe

35, including your post

 

[RWJ]

34 pages and counting, time to unsubsubscribe

I did that around page 19
Although I still come and have a quick read, at least my phones not going off every 2 minutes when someone replys lol

 

[Engineer54]

What would you hook up? A few portable lights? A fan heater? What would they use to cook with? You could rig up a temp board but the mum with a family to feed still wouldn't be that impressed with a few meagre sockets.... As with your situation, the domestic spark would still have to see it through, get back and fix it come hell or high water. And as I said previously, no fix often means no pay. I bet there's loads on here with stories similar to this example.

I hope now you can see a situation can arise of fault-finding under pressure - it's not just in the commercial/industrial environments.

Now come on now, the way your talking here either the whole CU is dead or one half of a split dual CU, There's not much there to fault find is there!! And easily safely rigged over a night, to sort out in the morning. OK your still going to have to get back and fix the problem (come hell or high water) but you can't really compare like for like to a production pressure situation. In fact the same thing often occurs in production situations, a safe quick fix is made to keep production rolling, and the permanent remedial work carried out at the end of a shift...

This is becoming a pointless discussion now, both sectors have there own unique problems, but you can't compare industrial complexity to a domestic installation, you just can't!!

 

[Dave 85]

What would you hook up? A few portable lights? A fan heater? What would they use to cook with? You could rig up a temp board but the mum with a family to feed still wouldn't be that impressed with a few meagre sockets.... As with your situation, the domestic spark would still have to see it through, get back and fix it come hell or high water. And as I said previously, no fix often means no pay. I bet there's loads on here with stories similar to this example.

Its a rare thing but I'm kinda with E54 on this one. I do nearly all domestic, and I've had a few family in the dark with no dinner at 6PM moments but I can't imagine it being comparible to the pressure of costing someone a grand in lost earnings for every minute it takes you to find a fault. I have a mate who does industrial, electrical mechanical and software maintenance. He came out on the lash with us the other day and proudly informed us when we got in the pub that he was supposed to be on call. Long story short he got called to a meeting a few days later with some very big scary UK managers and told he personally had cost the client 150k in lost earnings. My first thought was "thank god I do domestic"

By comparison my phone rang on Xmas day and the lady said, "Hi Dave, my 50 grand new kitchen that you wired up has lost all its power, and its christmas day" "Try turning off yer underfloor heating isolator and reset your RCD" I sais. Bingo, problem solved temporarily. I didn't go back to fix it (which took 5 mins) for a week and the lady was still over the moon that I'd answered the phone on Xmas day and had bought me a bottle of wine.