What would you change about the ECA?

[Dave A]

To all our electrical contractors, sparkies and those that generally care about the electrical contracting industry in South Africa, I've got a question for you.

Imagine for a moment you had a direct line to the top leadership of the Electrical Contractors Association (SA).

What would you ask them to change at the ECA?

[skatingsparks]

Would be good if they could actually do something about the cowboys in the industry.

It doesn't make for a level playing field for those who try and follow the rules who quote against those who really don't.

More enforcement of standards is what i'm basically saying.

Oh, and improvement in training - linking a load of pins on a board really doesn't teach anyone anything other than remembering which pins need to be linked out. I'll pay any man(or women) whats he/she is worth but when people come to me for jobs a trade test certificate counts for very little. I know its only supposed to be a start point but some of the 'trade tested electricians' we tried to employ were mostly a liability. I think the whole method of training need to be re-evaluated. If someone comes to me says I'm an electrician I feel I should be able to go "here are the drawings, here are the materials, this is how we are going to do it" and then call every day so I have 'general control' over the installation, not have to supervise every termination.

I think I have just had a bad day and needed a moan....

[Dave A]

I think I have just had a bad day and needed a moan....

I have no complaint about your "complaint". It's exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for.

May today go better than yesterday.

[Sparks]

Unfortunately that cannot be rectified. We will have it for years to come. If they cannot even come out of matric with a decent knowledge of language and mathematics, they are already down in the red. It starts way before they get to the trade test. A higher more comprehensive pass mark is needed for trade tests.