Apprentice 121 Podcast

We fire the podcast interviews back to life and this time with friend of the community Jason Shear or Jay to his mates! He has had a battle and a half to get to this stage from training provider failures, misselling, assessment disasters and more. But despite that this guy wont give up, he volunteers on community projects alongside his epic employer Dan and friends out in industry. Jay is an inspiration to me and many others in the sparky community. Well respected and despite a total failure of the training machine will make it to qualified! We get into the remote vs onsite assessment debate, sparkies, roofers and plumbers colliding across shared work areas and of course the pitfalls and successes of training from the hard yards Jay has walked. This will be a valuable podcast to anyone retraining as an electrician for many years to come and huge thanks to Jay for doing it! LegendWe will be back gold card in hand for part 2!

We have a huge opportunity during the era of abundance and with some joined up thinking, honesty and combined approach we can change the dynamic around training and outcomes in the electrical sector. In this video I run through some of the challenges, problems and offer solutions. As I say I am far from an expert as some like to point out. All I have is my experience of running businesses in the sector, working in it for 25+ years and carrying out endless training and CPD of my own and those I employ. Combined with a small community called Apprentice 121 and 6 years of running that including the period of Covid. I mean I would say it makes me qualified to offer a view, but hey perhaps not. I think we have an exciting future and its great to see a sector moving in what I think is the right direction with a few tweaks around the edges much needed to iron out the kinks and dams built by the otters #ifyouknowyouknow .... #teamsparks

Neil Phillips joins me to share his route into the electrical industry and subsequent creation of Electrical courses Ltd in Cambridge. You can find Neil online here https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-phillips-345a1a69/https://www.instagram.com/electricalcourses/https://www.tiktok.com/@electricalcourses @electricalcourses ​

We get into safety of solar and battery systems. We are seeing worrying trends around scare mongering and simplification of cause/effect. But what do you think? Is solar of itself the problem or as discussed more to do with training, specification and how we maintain kit. Get involved in the comments and share your views alongside a couple of designers, installers and users of solar.https://proteusswitchgear.com/solar-pv-consumer-units-saving-time-and-space-on-site/

Let me tell you a tale about A121 training! Are you looking to do solar, battery or EV courses? Get in touch

I am joined by industry power houses Luke Osborne - ESF Technical Director, David Powell ESF electrical installation safety engineer, Paul Collins NICEIC technical director and Sam Donaghy NICEIC head of technical advice. We discuss what WRAG is, its role and one of the topical subjects some people are discussing online atm, namely meter cabinets and single insulated cables. I share my views which are opposing to those of Wrag and best practice guidance but with understanding towards the technical analysis of what a box is and how it can be seen as an electrical enclosure. I guess it boils down to external influences and how these boxes are accessed and operated. Even as skilled people should we be expected to enter areas that could reasonably provide us with insulated and sheathed protection when we cant isolate that "enclosure" pre entering it. I am interested to hear your thoughts and views on this and as I mentioned in the chat these people nail the vast majority of these questions and guidance documents. Which is why this particular issue makes no sense to me. My only hope is to stop seeing so many of these installations carried out on new build homes in particular. When consumer safety and standards matter it simply should not be a thing imho. Thanks to the gents for giving up time on an evening to talk about this topic and maybe we will have the opportunity to discuss other things in the future. A real privilege I am not ungrateful for as this recording was done at 7pm out of working hours.

We got into some topics and half on this one! Huge thanks to Richard and Craig for digging into these topics and sharing views/experience. Loved it and hopefully it is useful to those listening along. Richard sharing his involvement in investigating poor electrical work, Craig designing a global trading room floor and Mark taking Solar!

Was great to catch up with Richard and Craig after a bit of a while! We got into the ESF event, Craigs day job, RCD blinding, Testing for DC leakage and loads more! Also towards the end we discuss A121 training.....

We get into the difficulties employers have in 2025 funding apprenticeships and the huge waste of tax payer funding on full time study routes. What do you think? What are the solutions?

Mark, Richard and Craig discuss their experiences of training in the electrical industry with questions answered around science and principles, information on ESF initiatives and what we think to recent changes around minimum apprenticeship lengths and entry requirements. Loved this chat

Are the lack of AFDDs a C2? Should EICR coding be changed and lotsssss more. Mark, Richard and Craig discuss a wide range of topics, with tips and discussion points for all trainees and electricians.

Any questions answered from employers, trainees and electricians including Mark who puts a question to Craig regarding @Doncaster_Cables PV ultra SWA. Merry Christmas to everyone who has listened along in 2024 and prior. Special thanks to all the individuals and brands helping along with the college drops which will be completed in early 2025. We will be back with regular weekly episodes in the New Year. #apprentice121

Can we rely on software for electrical design? What are ESF doing to support industry? What is ETT and the Northern Ireland event about? Why is Mark slowly sailing around the world? The ECN awards and Apprentice 121 college support visits. We cover a lot of ground in this one and it was brilliant to catch up with Richard and Craig. Go and watch this https://apprentice121.co.uk/louise-adamson if you do nothing else today, essential viewing. Loved it!

Long overdue catch up with Craig and Richard chatting about incoming changes to T levels (again), challenges training providers have, different earthing systems, steel conduit tips, science and principles tips and loadssss more. We have something coming with Michael Peace soon which is super exciting.

Exclusive run through of amendment 4 to BS 7671 of the wiring regulations with Richard Harvey from Electric Safety First and Craig Buist from Burgess Electrical Services. We rarely get an exclusive run at anything on the only podcast dedicated to apprentices and trainees but the stars aligned today for us! It was supposed to be purely earthing and bonding but we thought this made more sense! We also ran through the now uncool amendment 3 of BS 7671! We did include a run through of earthing systems right at the end! The wrag can found here https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/professional-resources/technical-e-news/the-wrag/#:~:text=The%20aim%20of%20this%20forum,series%20of%20questions%20and%20answers. BEMA download here https://www.beama.org.uk/resourceLibrary/beama---markings-and-symbols-for-circuit-protection-devices---august-2024.html Draft for public comment here https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/search?Term=BS+7671 IET webinar here https://events.theiet.org/events/live-launch-of-the-dpc-for-amendment-4-2026-to-bs-76712018-iet-wiring-regulations/ CEF/IET one here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/city-electrical-factors_techtalks-series-4-bs-7671-proposed-changes-activity-7226995560732397568-0ucs?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Covering the safe isolation super rod survey, EICR coding of unidirectional devices on bidirectional circuits, is there a skills shortage? Plus we catch up with what Richard, Craig and myself have been doing. We also discus Craigs idea to support lecturers directly around the UK (love this btw). Richard shares an exciting learning lounge and ESF link up and we answer a listeners question on the 2396 course. Super Rod survey is here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G6CD8WJ

We take a look at what Earthing and Bonding actually is and set out on a series to cover this and more! Also as its current we discuss the BS 7671 AMD3 Please get your comments in here https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2024-01247#/section IET webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WSqH9qatkI&pp=ygUDaWV0 CEF Tech talks AMD 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7eWUJoe5mI

Alex Robinson joins me to share his background, experiences and knowledge. Huge thanks to him for the time and chat, I loved it! We covered T levels, Options Skills, Apprenticeships, finding a job out of school, getting into teaching and loads more! Links mentioned in the recording below EAL with Kevin Sparrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5hOOKngMYo&t=314s EAL FAQ on Options Skills https://eal.org.uk/news/faqs-for-learners-registered-for-eal-qualifications-by-options-skills-ltd Alex Robinson on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-robinson-cl-bse/ SkillELECTRIC https://www.skillelectric.org.uk/ T Level Technical Qualification in Building Services Engineering for Construction qualifications and training courses | City & Guilds https://www.cityandguilds.com/qualifications-and-apprenticeships/building-services-industry/electrical-installation/8710-t-level-technical-qualification-in-building-services-engineering-for-construction#tab=information

We delve into the collision between wiring standards and products standards. Looking at how electricians are faced with challenges in all areas. We also have a chat around the development of industry standards, the evolving technology out in industry. RCD testing and a chat about street based EV chargers running from domestic premises into public places. If you have questions for Alex next week on T levels or some topics to discuss around earthing and bonding please do drop them in below. Thanks to Richard and Craig as always for giving up time to come and chat. I loved this one and really enjoyed the chat.

We delve into the murky waters of T levels with a lecturer currently delivering them alongside his stand out colleagues. Andrew Duffen joins myself and Richard to discuss everything he has learned and developed through experience. Along with things that maybe need some tweaking. I hope very much the industry of things is listening to the likes of Andrew to develop and ensure these courses are a success for learners and wider industry. As mentioned in the podcast if you are an employer please do reach out to your local training providers and HELP. To contact Andrew you can find him on LinkedIn here https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-duffen-b0ab15189/ For further information on T levels you can look here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-t-levels/introduction-of-t-levels Massive thanks to Richard and Andrew. Without them podcasts like this wouldnt be a thing. I learned loads and I hope you did as well. Get involved in the comments!