I've got an interesting topic for discussion and I would love to hear peoples thoughts on this.
I work for a company where all apprentices are mechatronics, so mix of mechanical and electrical. This is becoming very common in industry as there are jobs where you need to be multi skilled, I'm not looking to change any apprenticeship content as this is fixed.
Typically when people come out their time, they will work in a purely mechanical role or be a maintenance technician, where you maintain and fix machinery. They wont get told what their role is until the last few months of the program.
We've identified a gap in the business where the electrical knowledge is not where it should be post the full apprenticeship. We need a training course or a number of courses to plug this gap and get competency to where it needs to be. These individuals will never do pure electrical installation work, this is all outsourced to an external company. They will never have the need to make off SWAs, install distribution boards or do tray work , conduit etc.
The day to day activities are interrogating and fixing control systems (24v-240v), replacing parts like for like, PLCs, fault finding etc.
My argument is these individuals need enough knowledge to stay safe around electricity, so should be able to identify what is single vs three phase in a machine panel, what an MCB / RCD is and does, why cables and fuses are sized as they are etc (This is all not taught on the apprenticeship) as a minimum to stay safe when working on electrical systems. But they do not need the level of detail and skills that a "traditional competent electrician" would need, such as putting them through AM2.
Is there a city and guilds / EAL course out there that covers what I described or am I in a really unique situation where I need to come up with my own course content?
At the moment, I'm swaying with everyone who works on or near live conductors has to go on the Level 2 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings & Structures) 2365 and then supplementary course such as 60204 Electrical machinery safety.
Would really appreciate any support / advice.
