Firstly, let me explain the difference between an unlicensed electrician and an electrician with a Wireman’s License. The electrician with the license, known as the Registered Person, has applied to the Department of Labour (DoL) and has demonstrated his knowledge, skills and ability to conduct verification and certification of the construction, testing and inspection of the electrical installations for which they have been registered. The Registered Person is permitted to issue a Certificate of Compliance (CoC), which proves that the electrical installation is compliant.

In South Africa, we have three categories of Registered Persons:

Electrical Tester for Single Phase

This is an electrician who has been registered as an electrical tester for single phase in terms of regulation 11 (2) for the verification and certification of the construction, testing and inspection of electrical installations supplied by a single-phase electricity supply at the point of control, excluding specialised electrical installations.

Installation Electrician

This is an electrician who has been registered as an installation electrician in terms of regulation 11 (2) for the verification and certification of the construction, testing and inspection of any electrical installation, excluding specialised electrical installations.

Master Installation Electrician

This is an electrician who has been registered as a master installation electrician in terms of regulation 11 (2) for the verification and certification of the construction, testing and inspection of any electrical installation.

For each of the registration types, there are three options – practical knowledge, theoretical knowledge and knowledge of statutory requirements – and each contains criteria or conditions that the applicant has to fulfil before applying for registration.

 Let’s look at the conditions that have to be met by a person who has done a trade test and wishes to apply for registration as an installation electrician – what used to be known as the three-phase wireman’s license.

A person applying for registration as an installation electrician must have a trade qualification as:

An electrician; an electrician (engineering); an electrician (construction); a millwright (electro-mechanical); a lift mechanic; or the Electric : Chemical Electrical NQF level 4 qualification issued by the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA). You would not be accepted if you have any other trade.

The next step is to submit documentary proof of successful completed ‘unit standards’ on inspection, testing and certification of three phase industrial/commercial installations as prescribed by the ESETA.

These ‘unit standards’ mean that an assessor, registered with the ESETA, must assess the applicant to establish that they have the ability to interpret the codes of practice in various electrical installations. The applicant would also have to use test instruments and inspection reports to show the assessor that they know how to use the test instruments and interpret the readings. The applicant would also have to correctly evaluate a CoC against an electrical installation.

Once the assessor has found the applicant to be competent, the details are sent to the ESETA, who will then issue the applicant with a letter for the DoL.

The minimum theoretical qualifications needed by a person applying for registration as an installation electrician is an N3 certificate issued by the Department of Education, with minimum pass of 40% in each of the following subjects: mathematics, engineering science, and electrical trade theory or Electro-technology. Also acceptable is a Grade 12 certificate with a minimum pass of 40% in mathematics, science, and Technica – electrical or an equivalent subject that may include an N3 subject.

Finally, the applicant will have to submit proof of knowledge of the legislation and relevant health and safety standards applicable to electrical installations by having passed the subject, Installation Rules, as administered by the Department of Education through a FET campus or college. There are two examinations for this subject and the applicant must have a minimum of 50% for each paper. Although both papers do not have to be written at the same time, the second paper must be passed within 12 months of passing the first.  However, if a candidate obtains 75% of 100 marks in any one of the examinations, he or she will be permanently exempted from rewriting that examination.

Remember that having a Wireman’s License means that you carry a great deal of responsibility and should you issue a CoC but have not done what is expected of you by law, the DoL will prosecute you.

Application for a Wireman’s License is made to the Department of Labour. Their brochure that gives all the criteria can be obtained from them or you can copy it from my website www.pandttechnology.co.za, or email me at nick@pandttechnology.co.za or telephone (011) 827-4113/6 and we will forward you the brochure or other detail.

In south Africa you would be paying a Skills Development Levy (SDL) though your monthly EMP201 returns, Employers – whose total pay to all its workers is less than R500 000 per 12 month period are exempt from payment of SDL? You can if you support and believe that skills development is an urgent need in South Africa and the world you could opt to voluntary pay SDL. I recommend if you have questions regarding the SDL visit www.sars.gov.za “Quick reference guide for skills development levy” as to the SDL payment and procedures.

Many companies small and large pay this tax over and besides complaining are unaware that you can claim some of this money back and additional through the very same Sector Education Training Authorities (SETA’s) that receive your hard earned monies that you paid through the TAX system. You can get paid to Train.

First you need to decide who you would like to train existing or new staff as well as what type of training you would like to implement, this will be against your company’s skills need. Remember if you would like to train an electrical learner you would need to have an electrician in the company who would coach the learner. Once you have made your decision you will need to source a training provider who has the relavant accreditation with the SETA to develop  your apprentice or learner.

Many people are unaware which SETA they pay their skills levy to, my recommendation is that you check with you auditor or the tax office and let the SETA verify this for you, as you can only approach the SETA that gets your percentage of SDL you pay.

Then you approach and apply to your SETA for the discretionary grants for the program you have decided to implement (if they have allocated monies for the skills you require, this would be against the skills shortage identified by the SETA).  Once the SETA approves your grant you are ready to start your learners on their career path.

You can claim or make application to your SETA for the following types of grants

Discretionary Grants

This grant as it says is at the discretion of the SETA if they have allocated a project with funds and when you check with the Learnership department they will be able to indicate the procedure to get access to these grants for the skills you seek, many SETA’s have a window period where you need to make application or indicate your intention to develop, this detail can be obtained from your SETA or some SETA’s place notifications in some newspaper reminding to apply.

Mandatory grants

This grant is received if you or your company have submitted a skills plan to the SETA and implement and completed the training as planned. There are conditions and rules about the program accreditation as well as provider accreditation. Please ensure you find a reputable accredited provider as otherwise the SETA will not pay this grant.

Tax Rebate

In terms of the tax laws you are entitled to claim a tax rebate for the learners remuneration up to R30 000 paid to the learner see “Interpretation note: no. 20 (issue 3) date: 28 January 2010 act : Income tax act, no. 58 of 1962 (the act) Section : Section 12H subject : Learnership allowance”

Therefore when you decide that you are going to develop your staff you will receive a discretionary or mandatory grant that will assist in covering costs for the learners allowance as well as training costs and a tax rebate

If you follow this you have an additional bonus,  Learnership training can also support your BBBEE rating. This can be clarified and explained by your BBBEE compliance auditor.

So the training could be free if you apply to your SETA for the funding your company is entitled too

Now if you recall I said that the only things that you get for free today are problems, headaches, heartburn and stress, this is still true and in dealing with some SETA’s you will have to endure all of these free gifts BUT endure and you will get your money from the SETA and furthermore you have developed some learner on the hard earned money you thought you just gave away.

In this column, I will only discuss training and not education or development. Training is defined as “learning that is provided in order to improve performance on the present job” (Nadler, 1984).

Training can be formal or informal, in other words you can acquire training by attending a programme or by experience

I will give an example of a small organisations training initiatives that are required and we will look at a company with the following staff compliment:

• Manager/owner/director/member
• Reception/administration/finance
• Team leader/middle manager/supervisor/artisan
• General worker/assistant/labourer

The manager/owner/director/member

The manager/owner/director/member requires the knowledge and trade skills for the business he wants to run. In order to run an electrical company you should have the knowledge and skills for the Electrical trade. Otherwise how would you know if your staff are doing their jobs correctly?

Management skills would be required to run a successful business. You would need to know the requirements or business practice knowledge whether you have a sole proprietor, cc or Pty, for example Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) requirements, tax laws – PAYE, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), Skills Development Levy (SDL) and VAT.

To employ staff, you would need some knowledge in human resources, such as how to employ someone, employment contracts, employees’ rights, employers’ rights, minimum leave and sick leave required by law and so forth. In order for your staff to know their limitations/boundaries, you would need to have company policies and procedures in place. Tendering, quoting, project management, communication and selling skills go hand in hand. Your selling skills should enable you to tender and quote on a job more accurately because all you are doing is selling on paper. Putting your selling onto paper – communication and project management identify your description of how you will do the job and manage it as described.

Financial management, purchasing and selling work together. You need to be able to calculate the cost of your jobs, which includes all your expenses such materials, travel and labour, in order to sell at a profit. A skills development facilitator calculates your company’s skills needs, prepares your skill’s work plan annually, and submits this to the relevant SETA.

Your company policies and procedures should outline your disciplinary code for your staff describing the action that would be taken should they contravene the disciplinary code. It will assist you if you have some knowledge of how the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) works and what your rights are.

The receptionist/administration/finance

Your receptionist is the first person a client encounters when they call your company, therefore the receptionist requires telephone etiquette and people skills. Your receptionist may be your administrator as well and will require general office skills such as typing, filing, office management, and minute taking.

Your company’s finance is of paramount importance. Your finance personnel need to ensure your invoices are being generated and sent out, bills, salaries, taxes and PAYE, UIF, SDL and VAT (if you are registered) is being paid. The smooth running of your finance department will ensure that you are aware of the financial health of your company.

The team leader/middle manager/supervisor/artisan

The team leader/middle manager/supervisor/artisan will require technical skills for the trade, continuous skill’s training, and knowledge to ensure compliance, occupational health and safety, communication skills, report writing skills, quoting, quality management skills, coaching skills and industrial relations

General worker/assistant/labourer

The general worker/assistant/labourer will require hand skills, occupational health and safety, power tools skills, communication and technical skills of the trade. Remember, if you trained the general worker/assistant/labourer/s they would possibly use your tools and equipment with a lot more respect and, as a result, they would last longer.

As can be seen, a small organisation requires a large range and variety of skills and knowledge in order to be effective and financially viable. As indicated earlier, all the knowledge and skills can be acquired through training, which would allow the employee to operate effectively in their position and the manager/owner/director/member would have employees operating at optimal performance.

Alternatively, we could just carry on like in the good old days when we allowed our staff to perform at a level where new knowledge and skills required for the position was obtained by trial and error, thereby costing more time and money. This could result in the manager/owner/director/member never knowing where his company’s bench mark is compared to other companies of similar size and business.

Training, on the other hand, would provide all company representatives to perform effectively. It would also allow for development opportunities where employees could contribute the knowledge and skills acquired through training to perform effectively and allow the company to become a competitive industry role player.

Training within an organisation should not be viewed as a luxury but rather as a tool to ensure financial success that will ensure longer term return on investments. Because if a general worker knows how to use tools safely and correctly he should not hurt himself or destroy them as he has an understanding and an appreciation of safety and tools.

Therefore, training allows all employees to perform their current jobs more effectively and, as last month’s column showed, you can claim back some of your training money if you have used a reputable accredited training provider, and communicate with your SETA.

So, do you still think training is only for apprentices?