Continuing Professional Development – CPD for Electricians: What You Need to Know

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for electricians is the process of maintaining and developing your professional knowledge and skills. It is important for electricians to undertake CPD to ensure that they are up to date with the latest regulations and standards, and that they are able to safely and competently carry out their work.

The Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme (EAS) is a voluntary scheme for electrotechnical businesses and individuals. The EAS sets out the minimum requirements for competence in the electrotechnical industry. The EAS introduced a new set of requirements for electricians and companies who were registered with competent person schemes. This is that they must undertake CPD to ensure that they are maintaining and developing their competence.

What can count as CPD for Electricians?

There are a wide range of activities that can count as CPD, including:

• Attending training courses
• Reading trade journals and publications
• Watching webinars
• Completing online courses
• Attending conferences and seminars
• Giving presentations
• Writing articles
• Mentoring apprentices
• Shadowing a more experienced electrician
• Taking on a new challenge at work
• Researching a new topic
• Calling your CPS (Competent Person Scheme) technical helpline
• Speaking to a manufacturer technical team/helpline

How much CPD is required by the EAS?

There is no specific CPD requirement for individuals under the EAS. However, the EAS recommends that electricians undertake a minimum of 10 hours of CPD per year. This is just a guideline, and the amount of CPD that you need to undertake will depend on your individual circumstances and the type of work that you do.

If looking at similar ‘institutions’ such as the IET, they require that active members undertake a minimum of 30 hours CPD per year. Ultimately the EAS was designed to try and bring some parity between electricians and introduce a minimum standard. Our NICEIC assessor recommended that over time we should be aiming to achieve similar CPD to that as required by the IET (by the way I’m not an IET member, although my assessor is)

How to document your CPD for Electricians

It is important to document your CPD so that you can provide evidence of your competence to potential employers and clients. There is no specific format for CPD records, but they should include the following information:

• The activity that you undertook
• The date and duration of the activity
• What you learned from the activity
• How the activity has helped you to develop your competence

You can keep your CPD records in a variety of formats, such as a diary, a spreadsheet, or a portfolio. It is important to keep your records up to date and to review them regularly.

When you are being assessed by your CPS, they will want to ensure that you have good records of the CPD for electricians that you have been completing. We have a spreadsheet with columns for each of the above bullet points, and record everything into this. It’s easy to update, edit and print a copy out for the assessment.

Tips for electricians on undertaking CPD

Here are some tips for electricians on undertaking CPD:

• Make a plan for your CPD. This will help you to ensure that you are undertaking a variety of activities that are relevant to your work and that you are making progress towards your CPD goals.
• Set realistic goals. Don’t try to do too much at once. Start with a small number of activities that you can commit to, and gradually increase the amount of CPD that you undertake over time.
• Find activities that you enjoy. This will make it more likely that you will stick to your CPD plan.
• Reflect on your CPD. At the end of each activity, take some time to reflect on what you have learned and how you can apply it to your work.

Conclusion

CPD for electricians is important to ensure that they are up to date with the latest regulations and standards, and that they are able to safely and competently carry out their work. The EAS recommends that electricians undertake a minimum of 10 hours of CPD per year, but the amount of CPD that you need to undertake will depend on your individual circumstances and the type of work that you do.

Here are some additional tips for undertaking CPD for electricians:

• Look for CPD opportunities that are provided by your employer or trade association. This is often a good way to access free or discounted CPD activities.
• Consider joining a professional body, such as the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Professional bodies often offer their members access to CPD resources and events.
• Follow trade publications and social media accounts to stay up to date on the latest news and developments in the electrotechnical industry.
• Talk to other electricians about their CPD experiences. They can give you ideas for activities to undertake and share tips on how to get the most out of your CPD.

By following these tips, you can make sure that you are meeting your CPD requirements and maintaining your competence as an electrician.

CPD For Electricians – Resources

So we finish this guide with the most important part really, a link to places where you can find some resources to complete your CPD for electricians.

CPS Scheme Technical Helplines:

You must be a member of the relevant CPS body to use their technical helpline, however any calls to these can be logged in as CPD for electricians

• NICEIC Technical Helpline
• NAPIT Technical Helpline

Valuable Online Resources (FREE):

• LEWDEN Academy – Number of free online technical webinars with free CPD cert & supporting literature
• Schneider On Demand CPD Webinars – Access online videos/webinars you can view remotely and get a CPD certificate afterwards
• Luceco Academy – Wide range of free CPD courses, with small multiple choice questions at end and free CPD certificates
• LEDVANCE – Osram LEDVANCE training, covers alsorts of lighting topics, study at your own pace and get free certificates
• Hager Training – Both product & technical training – online content, quite in depth.
• Voltimum – Large range of listings, mainly showing other training providers, however there are a large number of free CPD webinars, videos, etc…
• eFIXX Electrical Know How – Popular electricians website/youtube channel with a few good CPD videos
• Apollo Fire Detection – Free online CPD courses for fire detection systems and related technical topics
• NICEIC ‘The Wire’ Webinars – These are supposed to be for NICEIC members only, however if you enter any random number into the member registration number box you can still watch these free of charge
• NICEIC ‘The Wire’ Back Catalogue – Again, enter a random number as your NICEIC membership number (if not a member) and you can watch the webinar free. This link is the back catalogue with over 30 webinars, a great resource and you get a free CPD cert
• Professional Electrician, CPD Book Volume One – All the CPD resources from the professional electrician magazines contained in one 120 page book. Good for 6x 1 hour CPD certs.
• Professional Electrician Magazine – Each monthly issue has a number of CPD articles and a link you can register for 1 hour credit and free certificate. Alternatively you can pick up a physical copy from your local wholesaler.
• Asbestos Awareness – Free online asbestos awareness course (with CPD cert) for companies with upto 5 employees

In Person Training (FREE):

• Legrand Training Academy – Offers a range of free, in person CPD training at their training academy
• AICO Expert Installer Training – Offering a free in-person training and a chance to register on their scheme. Really good training on domestic smoke alarm systems
• AICO, further training – AICO offer further, free in person CPD training on home safety topics, based around fire/CO detection systems. Local sales managers usually arrange these at local wholesalers.