What do candidates on the BS 7909 course actually do?
The course on BS 7909 is often 'tuned' to suit the audience on the day, (dealing with mixtures of production managers and electrical engineers, for example) and our instructors promote structured debates on all the topics within the Standard which are of interest to the candidates.
The Legal Implications: We begin by analysing the legislative links between the Health & Safety at Work Act, the Electricity at Work Regulations, the Wiring regulations and the Standard itself. Candidates learn about the relationships between each of these.
Candidates are engaged in this part of the course by exploring the various scenarios that might arise - for example: Would non-compliance with BS 7909 be a criminal or a civil offence? In what situations would compliance with BS 7909 be necessary? Would a defence be needed to prove compliance with the Standard?
This analysis of the legal situation helps the candidates to clearly see the scope of the Standard - to whom, where, what and when it applies.
We then look at the terms and definitions used in the Standard, ensuring that candidates understand what is meant by each. We go on to look at the important management requirements - in particular the responsibilities of the 'Event Manager' (which is one of the key issues in the 2008 Standard) and how his/her responsibilities can be discharged to others. Each of these issues is reinforced and made more engaging by involving the candidates in the learning process, using assignments that they complete themselves. The candidates refer to the actual text of the Standard, discuss with their instructor, or refer to their course notes as necessary to complete these assignments (there are several of these for them to complete through the course of the day).
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Page 6 of the course notes for the BS 7909 course, listing some of the definitions used in the Standard. Candidates discuss what each of these terms mean |
Page 7 of the course notes for the BS 7909 course, describing the management requirements for temporary electrical installations |
This is an example of one of the assignments completed by our candidates |
The course goes on to look at the requirements of small/simple events and this is contrasted with the requirements for large/complex events. We then look at the requirements for design and setting-up of temporary electrical systems to BS 7909. The course also deals with the important aspects of the required use of RCDs, earthing and bonding and the discrimination issues.
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Page 9 of the course notes for the BS 7909 course, describing the requirements for small/simple events |
Page 12 of the course notes for the BS 7909 course, describing the requirements for large/complex events |
Page 15 of the course notes for the BS7909 course, describing the requirements for designing and setting-up a temporary electrical installation |
We keep the focus of the course on the practical issues, for example where discrimination issues might occur, where earth loop impedance values should be known (and the import of dangerously high values of earth loop impedance), and also what sensitivities of RCDs should be used and where.
We look carefully at the requirements for inspection and testing recommended by BS 7909, and candidates are given the opportunity of completing them for a simulated situation under the guidance of our instructor. This helps us to focus on the problematic issues like unnecessary workload and the (often inadequate) time allowed to complete the paperwork etc to the fore, and we can then provide guidance on how best to alleviate these problems.
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Page 28 of the course notes for the BS7909 course, describing the requirements for inspection and testing |
This is a BS 7909 completion certificate filled in by one of our candidates |
This is a BS 7909 schedule of test results form filled in by one of our candidates |
The course finishes by summarising the main requirements of the Standard that have been taught and reminding the candidates what they should have learned from them. The candidates' completed course notes (and assignments) provide a useful reference tool for future use, and to ensure that they have the correct information, we issue the definitive answers to each of the assignments.
In order to ensure that the candidates have understood each of the key objectives of the course properly, we issue a multiple-choice assessment paper which they have to answer and return to our instructor. The instructor then fully debriefs each and every question, ensuring that every single candidate has understood all of the important points of the day.
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The multiple-choice assessment paper used on the BS7909 course |
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If you would like to learn more about the course on BS7909 - Temporary Electrical Installation then please call us.
