Over the last 18 months more than 120 electrical professionals on the island of Saint Lucia have raised their skills, knowledge and confidence through training provided by a British-based company.
PE looks at the impact this has had on those individuals and the island itself.
Since February 2017, Technical Training Solutions (Tech Training) has been providing a variety of training courses to electricians and engineers on the Eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia. The objective is to raise the skills, knowledge and standards across the island up to UK/international levels.
Adopting UK standards
The ongoing training programme provides certification to electricians, electrical installation engineers, maintenance staff and plant managers. Electrical Engineering Experts Inc. of St. Lucia, in partnership with Tech Training and the Division of Technical Education and Management Studies (DTEMS) of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC), started the programme by teaching the UK City & Guilds industry-standard training qualification in the Requirements for Electrical Installations – IET Wiring Regulations. These regulations govern electrical wiring in St. Lucia, making the qualification an important achievement for electricians and engineers who previously received training for licensing for electrical installations.
The UK IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) has been adopted as SLNS/BS 7671 in St. Lucia and is now the electrical standard by which all electrical installations should be designed, installed, inspected, tested and maintained on the island. It is also the standard by which the island is powered by electricity supplier Lucelec.
Training workshops
At different periods of the year, Tech Training staff travel to St. Lucia to provide a series of four-day training workshops at Lucelec’s Electronics Workshop in DTEMS at SALCC.
More than 120 delegates – electricians, electrical testers, Government electrical inspectors, refrigeration and air conditioning installation engineers, maintenance technicians, architects and hotel maintenance managers – have benefited from the courses and are now equipped with the skills, knowledge and the requirements of the IET Wiring Regulations, Requirements for Electrical Installations.
The four-day training ends with the online City & Guilds examination at the CAD lab of DTEMS, SALCC. This training course is the prerequisite for the City & Guilds Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installation course. This is specialised training that provides core knowledge and skills that all electrical inspectors and testers, electricians, electrical designers and engineers need to possess.
“Prior to working with Technical Training Solutions, we had no formal training in place for electricians and engineers on the island. The feedback from candidates who’ve attended the training courses has been very positive indeed. It has helped build their confidence and has allowed them to get new jobs,” says Clive Antoine, Director of Electrical Engineering Experts Inc. Saint Lucia
“The need for electricians on the island is rising year by year. St. Lucia is a growing tourist resort with lots of hotels, restaurants, two airports, new businesses, seaports, gas stations, quarries, mines, an oil refinery and a world class EU hospital (Owen King European Union Hospital), which all require trained electricians, facilities managers and maintenance technicians to install, inspect and maintain electrical equipment to international standards, whether these are power generators, control cabinets, refrigeration or air conditioning systems.”
He continues: “The courses are very thorough, in-depth and hands-on, which the attendees greatly appreciate. The delegates have learned a lot and have sharpened their skills and knowledge to UK and global standards. The course instructors from Technical Training Solutions have been fun, engaging and extremely knowledgeable about their subjects.
“In particular, the candidates have liked how the trainers have married together the practical and theoretical aspects of the courses. They were also able to answer any questions from the delegates, who later told me that this proved the level of expertise and skill of the trainer, i.e. it proved they’d been out in the field themselves doing electrical work – they’ve seen it and done it and not just read about it!”
Raising levels
The Government of St. Lucia has now approved this training for all of its Electrical Inspectors and, to date, 14 of these inspectors have been trained by Tech Training.
Clive adds: “The rest of the world can now rest assured that the training provided by Tech Training has significantly raised the level of electrical safety on the island of St. Lucia for the users, operators and beneficiaries of electrical energy.”
Clive can certainly vouch for these views himself. In 2011, he began his online research into finding a suitable training provider for St. Lucia and came across the Tech Training website: “I liked what I read on the website, particularly with regards to the course content notes on electrical training courses. The detail was very helpful and gave me confidence that this was the company we could trust and work with.”
Between January and March 2016, Clive attended a four-day course at Technical Training Solutions in Rochester, Kent: the City & Guilds industry-standard training qualification in the Requirements for Electrical Installations – IET Wiring Regulations, followed by a five-day City & Guilds Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installation training course.
Clive concludes: “I certainly chose the right training provider. I’m extremely happy with our partnership with Technical Training Solutions and the quality of training the firm has provided to us over the last 18 months. It would be extremely costly for us as an island to send our engineers and electricians to the UK to attend training courses there. Fortunately, Technical Training Solutions agreed to partner with us and bring its services here, making it more affordable and accessible.”
Tech Training has also provided other courses in St. Lucia including Electrical Safety on Construction Sites, Temporary Electrical Systems, and Explosive Atmospheres/Hazardous Areas.Outside of the UK, the company also provides training programmes in Nigeria, Holland, Montserrat, Kuwait and Gibraltar.
For more information about the range of training courses on offer from Technical Training Solutions visit: www.technicaltrainingsolutions.co.uk