There are still many people who do not consider electricians as real professionals, comparable to any other tradespeople and are even getting better salaries than most. This is because electricians are thoroughly versatile while working within the power industry.
Basically, the modern electrician Brisbane is a very skilled professional whose work covers a wide range of industries from construction, communications and business. He is also adequately adept at working in either the domestic field (residences) and in large projects with massive coverage (factories, commercial complexes, plants).
As a reminder, the presence of electricians ensures us that all the businesses and industries that need power and energy will continue working and functioning well.
Right now, all of the world’s power sources (sun, wind, water, nuclear) are all converted to electricity to make it viable for our use. Without electricity and the men that work on it (electricians), the world will stop functioning.
Skills
Electricians are measured by the support they have in the group of all the industries. These important professionals had gathered their expertise and skills via strenuous training (long apprenticeships)and education.
With their training, they can install, replace and repair, do wirings, conduits. Lighting up, and working on other electrical fixtures and component run by electric power.
Professionally, they have acquired their expertise and skills through training, education, and tutorials from their mentors. With some few years in to the business and they have the expertise nobody has.
With their extensive experience, they can interpret drawings and blueprints. They even catch up on the latest electrical code specifications in their respective local authorities.
Duties
In many industries, the electrician is given the authority in installing the electric power and the electric system on the site. On a wider scheme, they are responsible for the fire and security systems complete with the appropriate electronic controls.
Electricians are responsible for the installation of the wiring and the servicing of the electrical equipment after installation. Additional work might include the changing of some things in the job that had already been installed.
After installation, the major duties of electricians working in the construction and maintenance industries are to maintain and replace older pieces of equipment. In other instances, the new solar and wind power systems alternatives sometimes require the same installation services done by other electricians.
Education and training
To be an industrial electrician, one must first be able to finish high school (or its GED equivalent). The next step is to complete a four-year apprenticeship program.
The requirement is at least 144 hours of technical training plus 2000 hours of paid on-the-job training.
At these times, the candidate-electrician will learn industrial electrical theory, blueprint reading, electrical code requirements and the safety and first-aid practices. The class training would also include other skills that still relate in some ways to electricity include soldering, communications, the whole fire alarm systems and the elevators.
Cadet electricians who do both construction and maintenance work during the four years of apprenticeship will help qualify for the candidate. In Australia, for instance, every state has its own requirements to practice.
Electrical license
After he gets his license, the electrician from now on is entitled to carry out all kinds of electrical installation work without any supervision. (Here, he would need to be registered as an electrical contractor.)
This is if he continues to carry out electrical installation work by contract or offering to contract such projects.
Like most countries in the world (with some minor differences in details) Australia requires strict regulations when doing electrical work involving fixed wiring. This type of work is almost always performed by a licensed electrician or electrical contractor.
Wider practice
Moreover, an electrician must also be licensed as a telecommunications cable provider. This is supervised and controlled by the Australian communications and media industry. In practice, licensing in Australia is also regulated by each individual state.
Local electricians will have several types of work. These sets of work are all involving electricity and electricity-run appliances. These include practically almost everything in a household.
There are several types of work handled by the local electrician. This includes work that involves electricity and all appliances run by electricity. These devices include air conditioning, safety switches, lighting fixtures and installations, smoke alarm installations, inspections, certification and testing of electrical appliances.
Registered Electrical Contractor
As an electrician classified as A Class, he can perform unsupervised work. He cannot work, however, for profit or gain without further qualifications as a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC).
He can work however if he is under the employment of someone who holds an REC status (with some exemptions). He needs to submit a certificate of electrical safety to the relevant body after any electrical work had been finished.
Inside wiremen
In the industry, there is a rough classification of types of working electricians. The electricians whose main work focus belongs to the inside of a building (most usually the building’s wiring) are called inside wiremen.
For these insiders, the main concentration is working in homes or in buildings re-purposed for some new use. They usually work inside newly-constructed structures.
These electricians spend most of their career years working indoors. They also work with blueprints, they install new electrical systems in new building and they still do troubleshooting the problems in older systems which they sometimes replace.
Outside linemen
These linemen do their team work outdoors most of the time. Thisgroup of electricians typically shows some moderate amount of physical fitness because of all the climbing requirement in telephone and power poles. (Today, they move to high places by way of the so-called lift bucket.)
These are also the same groups of electricians who have to endure the weather conditions and its sudden shifts. These are also the men who are in charge of ending power outages in their communities. This they do by solving and repairing causes of power troubles.
Outside linemen most usually have to endure the changes of the outside weather conditions. They have to work in inclement weather while usually repairing power outages for the homes, businesses and other structures in the area.
(Sometimes, they are ordered to trim trees along the way to prevent endangering power lines and untoward accidents on people. Sometimes, groups of outside linemen assemble whole electrical substations.)
Sub-categories
They also have subcategories, although lines are blurred here when emergencies happen and in times of dire needs. The first group is the service electricians who specialize in troubleshooting wiring problems and doing repairs.
The construction electricians mostly deal with laying the wiring for new buildings and rarely does maintenance work. There are also electricians that specialize in marine, air, and research and hospital-specific applications.