Our tailor-made courses are the perfect fit for learners
As part of our ongoing training offering, SELECT is happy to deliver bespoke training courses to suit Members’ exact needs. One such request came from Edinburgh City Council, who asked us for a personalised session on EICRs, which we duly delivered to excellent feedback
At a recent meeting of the Local Authority and Client Forum (LACF) at The Walled Garden, discussions turned to the quality of electrical installation condition reports (EICRs).
Several voices around the table said that EICRs weren’t being very well completed by both sub-contractors and employees, with missing information being the main issue.
Among those present was Tam Meaney, Operation Manager, Housing Property, at new SELECT Member City of Edinburgh Council, who was keen to hear what the association could do to help rectify the issue.
Our Training team duly set up a meeting to discuss how we could assist, and discovered that our usual two-day SQA periodic inspection and testing (PI&T) session – AKA the 214 course – wouldn’t be suitable as Tam had 48 members of staff to be trained.
We therefore put our heads together and created a bespoke one-day version of the course, encompassing both practical training and a case study to complete the EICR to a satisfactory standard.
This would also allow the council’s electrical team leaders to attend and gain the knowledge of checking completed EICRs, and also allow the electricians themselves to update their underpinning knowledge on the requirements of PI&T to BS 7671:2018+A2:2022.
Tam was happy with what we proposed as it dovetailed nicely with his electrical service improvement plan. So the scene was set at our dedicated Training Centre at The Walled Garden as we rolled out the courses across four separate days.
On course for learning
Tam sent all electrical staff – including himself – to attend the one-day bespoke course, which meant he could stagger his team to accommodate their busy schedule of work.
During the course, the staff engaged in the principles of PI&T in a course workbook, with examples of observation and applicable classification codes based on industry guidance in Electrical Safety First (ESF) Best Practice Guide 4, which was updated in October 2023.
Delegates also studied the importance of the safe isolation process using SELECT’s own 10 Steps to Safe Isolation resources, along with ESF Best Practice Guide 2 Issue 4, which gives guidance on the management of electrical safety and safe isolation procedures for low-voltage installations.
As outlined in previous editions of cabletalk, these ESF documents are a great resource and are freely available on the SELECT website at www.select.org.uk or the ESF site at www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk
Training on neutral current diversion (NCD) was also discussed, with information in relation to Appendix D – safety check for diverted neutral currents – from the IET Guidance Note 3 Inspection and Testing book.
We also had our newly released flowchart poster available to talk through, both as a hard copy and on our Clevertouch interactive smart screen, which worked well.
Certificate of success
On completion of the training day, council staff were awarded a SELECT learning CPD certificate of attendance, with Tam saying that the course hit the spot perfectly. He told us: “The bespoke training provided by SELECT for testing, inspection and certification was excellent and met all the requirements that we were looking for from the training. The team also managed to book the four courses into their schedule at very short notice and provided the training before year end, which was appreciated.
“This gave our electricians the chance to go through the testing process and correct filling in of the certification, so now all our certification should be filled in identically. Stuart’s knowledge of the regulations was also phenomenal!”
Other feedback was equally positive, with one delegate telling us: “I got a better understanding of filling out EICRs correctly.” Another council employee said: “The course was very informative and all my questions were answered” while a third added: “The course notes and handouts were very helpful.”
I enjoyed delivering this course and it was great to see nearly 50 people leaving The Walled Garden with a greater knowledge of EICRs that can now be translated into practical application on-site. It also showed how flexible our training offering can be when we give it a little thought, which bodes well for any future bespoke courses required by Members.
 Electrical Safety First (ESF) Best Practice Guide 4 |  10 steps to Safe Isolation |  ESF Best Practice Guide 2 Issue 4 |
Find out more
If you are interested in bespoke in-house CPD training for your employees, please get in contact with Training Manager Jenny Cryans by emailing jenny.cryans@select.org.uk or calling the Training team direct on 0131 445 9206.
