Sarah Q Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 In my new job, I am being offered several training courses from NICEIC - Electrical Installation, Fire Systems and Emergency Lighting, and PAT I have had a look at their website and around on Google, and have found a few threads on here that mention NICEIC, but would be interested to hear from people who have done these courses already, what to expect in terms of examinations, how highly regarded the qualifications are in the industry etc... I thankfully don't have to pay for them! Any help, gratefully received.... Sarah Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 I wish someone would offer them to me! FOC! Can be very usefull with instalations, see if you can get a 7909 course whatever it is called as soon as the revised standard comes out, 7909 is especially relevant to temporary LV AC supplies for entertainment events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Well. The NICEIC are far from my favourite organisation and I really do resent doing anything that would help further line their pockets however I do have to admit that they are held in good regard by the majority of insurance companies, councils and potential employers. I don't have any experiance of their courses however I don't have any reason to believe they are any worse than anyone else's and even if you didn't learn anything they would still look good on your CV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Q Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 Well. The NICEIC are far from my favourite organisation Would you care to elaborate why you don't like them? I wouldn't be happy doing courses with an organisation that had bad ethics etc.... Or is this just a bad personal experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Only worked for NICEIC approved employers so cant comment on the quality of the courses,however considering how rigorous they carry out inspections of members work, id reckon on there course to be of a fairly high standard.However my biggest gripe with them is over part p,but thats going off topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Q Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 Only worked for NICEIC approved employers so cant comment on the quality of the courses,however considering how rigorous they carry out inspections of members work, id reckon on there course to be of a fairly high standard.However my biggest gripe with them is over part p,but thats going off topic I have been offered the Part P course as well - so any feedback would be gratefully received. I didn't mention it before as I was worried about adding it to a theatre forum.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wuddy Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well. The NICEIC are far from my favourite organisation and I really do resent doing anything that would help further line their pockets however I do have to admit that they are held in good regard by the majority of insurance companies, councils and potential employers. I don't have any experiance of their courses however I don't have any reason to believe they are any worse than anyone else's and even if you didn't learn anything they would still look good on your CV. I'm with Ike on this, the NICEIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Instalation Contractors) is supposedly a Trade organisation but, in my opinion has become increasingly consumer orientated, never the less it is a major player in the electrical contracting arena and its badge is recognised by Insurance Cos., Local Authorities, Employers etc. It is a Limited Company and so has to genertate operating income and share holder dividends so it is expanding its field of operations offering courses to many who are not directly involved in the Electrical Contracting field but on the peripherals, I know of people who have enrolled on courses only to find the content is way 'over their heads' and not really relevant to their employment. I am sure but not having been on any, that courses will be orientated towards Electrical Contractors, the Emergency Lighting course will be about the design & instalation of emergency lighting simillarily the Fire Alarm course about design & instalation of fire alarms. The PAT course is likely to be one of the few suitable to general employment and probably worth the investment. Yes I am biased, I am an electrician and take issue at being bullied into joining Organisations and paying out fees in order to carry on earning an income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 It isn't really the NICEIC as such but the current attitudes when it comes to competence that annoy me and it just so happens the NICEIC is one of the biggest players. No system will be totally foolproof and the NICEIC's is no exception. There are lots of registered companies that have carried out substandard work, while inspections can be tough they are only carried out on a small percentage of work and there's no guarantee all work will be done to the same standard. Registration is expensive and time consuming and lots of competent people simply haven't bothered. This wouldn't be too bad if it was used as a guide but an ever increasing number of people assume that anyone registered is good and anyone who isn't is incompetent. Now to be fair to the NICEIC they get paid by their members so they shouldn't be expected to have to point this out to Joe Public in a similar way you don't expect Barry Scott to tell you everything Cillit Bang doesn't work on. The problem comes in the fact the government, insurers and Electrical Safety Council appear to back up this fallacy. The ESC in particular are an interesting one as they advise government and campaign to reduce electrical accidents on behalf of consumers so you would have thought they would have a well researched unbiased viewpoint however they really seem to be singing the praises for registration. The cynic in me can't help but wonder if that has anything to do with the fact they own the NICEIC? These schemes seem to further devalue the electrical trade. In the eyes of the NICEIC I am as competent as someone who had 40 year more experience than me and the guy I spent most of my lunch break trying to explain transformer losses to is as competent as me. Non technically minded management feel they need these kind of schemes to comply with the law and people are happy to go with a "competent" electrician as opposed to looking for good ones. As far as I know the NICEIC is non profit making but it still has management and staff who obviously want it to do financially well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave22 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Well put Ike. I totaly agree. Whilst the course would be an asset to have it may not be relevent in some cases in this industry, but we are all hear to learn so if its for free snap it never know when it would come in handy. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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