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SPARKSAFE ARRIVES ON THE MAINLAND

John Peckham
I saw the announcement at the Elex show in Harrogate that NAPIT had formed a partnership with Sparksafe. I assume all NAPIT registered contractors will gain automatic status for the License to Practice without needing the qualifications for direct membership?


I did hear that a well known rail contractor walked away from a contract as they did not have enough operatives that met the LtP criteria.


I am thinking that if it did gain traction a lot of contractors would be in the brown stuff as they would no longer be able to use cheap unqualified labour.


Google Sparksafe to see what it is all about. They don't seem to have many members at the moment.
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    Legh Richardson:




    tattyinengland:

    If an NVQ3 is required to be qualified then I could not join (Much the same as a JIB scheme)- I only ever did level 1 &2 and then inspection and testing and then 16 years experience in commercial environments.


    The problem is that I'm the director of a small electrical company, the NICEIC QS (10 years this year) and in charge of health and safety (No H&S qualifications I just implement what my H&S advisers tell me to)


    We primarily do Commercial office installs from lighting to sockets, DBs of any size or shape, small to large chillers, plant rooms, controls etc etc and I advise the clients within my limitations.


    All for want of an NVQ3 I cannot join JIB or probably Sparksafe. It is very hard to get an NVQ3 as a stand alone qualification; I was doing it over the internet a few years ago and that company went into administration before I could complete. I could not be bothered after that.






    I suspect with your level of experience you would only need some 'competent' person to shadow your work for a couple of days across a couple of sites doing a variety of work and sign off your write ups. Then submit the portfolio to an awarding body. If only it was that simple. The problem is that the definition of clown and competent gets confused which then over complicates a rather basic assessment process.


    Legh


     




    Thanks Legh - Unfortunately for me - I am that competent person on site - I have been an NICEIC AC for 10 years and I get, price, run and manage all the commercial electrical contracts that we get as the main electrical installer - most often under a main contractor who gets the contract from the client and then appoints the electrical company (us) and plumbing, building, air conditioning companies etc. I do believe that the JIB may take into account your NICEIC annual assessments as proof of life, but that seems to have some limitations and may expire if I went to be employed at some point in the future - running a small company is always fraught with both danger and constant questions such as - what am I doing here - life would be easier if I were employed.......but having run my business for 13 years I guess I am not about to stop now. John Peckham and Zs and Pete Smith are three examples of people who use this forum and I hope would vouch for my work and all of whom I have worked  professionally with in the past. I have taught and signed off two apprentices from start to finish, gold cards all round for them but not I. Fortunately I don't generally need a gold card but I have lost a £50K contract at the London University of arts behind Kings Cross, when it was getting built because I did not have a JIB card. (I know I could get an Improver JIB card - but it'll be very embarasing when asked - Who is running this job and can I see your card.......................)

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  • 0

    Legh Richardson:




    tattyinengland:

    If an NVQ3 is required to be qualified then I could not join (Much the same as a JIB scheme)- I only ever did level 1 &2 and then inspection and testing and then 16 years experience in commercial environments.


    The problem is that I'm the director of a small electrical company, the NICEIC QS (10 years this year) and in charge of health and safety (No H&S qualifications I just implement what my H&S advisers tell me to)


    We primarily do Commercial office installs from lighting to sockets, DBs of any size or shape, small to large chillers, plant rooms, controls etc etc and I advise the clients within my limitations.


    All for want of an NVQ3 I cannot join JIB or probably Sparksafe. It is very hard to get an NVQ3 as a stand alone qualification; I was doing it over the internet a few years ago and that company went into administration before I could complete. I could not be bothered after that.






    I suspect with your level of experience you would only need some 'competent' person to shadow your work for a couple of days across a couple of sites doing a variety of work and sign off your write ups. Then submit the portfolio to an awarding body. If only it was that simple. The problem is that the definition of clown and competent gets confused which then over complicates a rather basic assessment process.


    Legh


     




    Thanks Legh - Unfortunately for me - I am that competent person on site - I have been an NICEIC AC for 10 years and I get, price, run and manage all the commercial electrical contracts that we get as the main electrical installer - most often under a main contractor who gets the contract from the client and then appoints the electrical company (us) and plumbing, building, air conditioning companies etc. I do believe that the JIB may take into account your NICEIC annual assessments as proof of life, but that seems to have some limitations and may expire if I went to be employed at some point in the future - running a small company is always fraught with both danger and constant questions such as - what am I doing here - life would be easier if I were employed.......but having run my business for 13 years I guess I am not about to stop now. John Peckham and Zs and Pete Smith are three examples of people who use this forum and I hope would vouch for my work and all of whom I have worked  professionally with in the past. I have taught and signed off two apprentices from start to finish, gold cards all round for them but not I. Fortunately I don't generally need a gold card but I have lost a £50K contract at the London University of arts behind Kings Cross, when it was getting built because I did not have a JIB card. (I know I could get an Improver JIB card - but it'll be very embarasing when asked - Who is running this job and can I see your card.......................)

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