Ever wanted to

[green-hornet]

Have you ever wanted to put an assessor on the spot?

We all know that when it comes to annual assessments we all appear to panic, yet few of us have any reason to, given the sighs of relief posted after the dreaded assessment.

This year I am planning to put some questions to my assessor,I have known most of the assessors since 2005 and found them all to be very helpful.

I think they know if you know what your doing, maybe the questions get more technical I have no idea personally.

If you have ever wanted to ask a question please reply to this thread and I will try to get my next assessor to answer as many as he can.

He is a very nice man.

 

[Bez]

Good idea, I would like a definitive answer on exporting Earth to out-buildings (PME).

I have a house & cartlodge to price.

 

[the doctor]

Hi Bez

the "exporting of the neutral" was a question i had never heard of till i started teaching!

i worked at norweb and they had no problem with it. however, when i started teaching i found that different leccy boards had different policies. some demand the outbuilding to be TT and some do notheadbang

my garage is wired off the PME and not TT'd:coat

 

[batty]

Hi Bezthe "exporting of the neutral" was a question i had never heard of till i started teaching!

i worked at norweb and they had no problem with it. however, when i started teaching i found that different leccy boards had different policies. some demand the outbuilding to be TT and some do notheadbang

my garage is wired off the PME and not TT'd:coat

As the quack says that is a DNO thing. My assessor did not know about it so no point in asking them anyway all though perhaps some will have views on it. personally I think you have to do what you are happy doing if it is a pme supply.

Batty

 

[Evans Electric]

I'd never heard of exporting a PME earth till I joined this Forum to be honest. But only been in the trade since Elvis came out of the army, so what would I know ??

Deke

 

[Andy™]

i wonder what they would say if you asked them some technical questions that you know the answers to, but they dont?

they will either

A: not ask any more questions, and your done for another year

b: ask more questions and hope they find something you dont know, and then be done for another year

 

[Lurch]

ISTR asking a couple of questions, or sent a couple of questions to someone to be asked to the NIC assessor. The reply back to everything was basically 'buy the technical manual\ring the helpline' Every time you rung the help line you'd just get a reg quoted at you. Think this is about the time I lost interest in become associated with any of them.

 

[Evans Electric]

Greeny, you may end up peeing the bloke off resulting in him making thinks as difficult as possible for you. Years ago we were in the NICEIC but we always got the impression they didn't want to give any advice or assistance .

Deke

 

[batty]

Greeny, you may end up peeing the bloke off resulting in him making thinks as difficult as possible for you. Years ago we were in the NICEIC but we always got the impression they didn't want to give any advice or assistance .Deke

I personally like my assessor. He has been with BS since part p was set up and I have always found him very helpful. I ring him on his mobile and if he can't answer because he is assessing someone he will ring me back. I would not want to upset him.

Batty

 

[green-hornet]

Thanks for the replies guys, the assesor who is doing me this time is a very good guy and very helpfull.I think he respects my age and the time I have been doing this job.

He is always very strict, but I believe they know who can do the job and who can not.

When I posted this I was thinking more about what do you look for? when you do an assesment do you expect the electrician to know everything or will you cut any slack based on personal expectations?Have you ever refused an application? if yes why?

Those are the sort of questions I had in mind, and I will be showing him this forum so he can see first hand what we all think and do.

 

[Apache]

I would be very interested to know how many people have the qualifications on paper but fail the assessment.

Interesting to know numbers fail and rejected by the scheme totally and those that have to have a second inspection.

IMO - it's like an exam, if everyone is let in / passes then it doesn't really demonstrate anything.

The schemes could have such stats on their website. It would build confidence in me as a consumer.

 

[green-hornet]

I will ask that question, I am sure he must have seen some who he would not like to pass.

 

[kme]

As Batty, I get on well with my area engineer.

A couple of years ago, the subject of PSC being higher than the MCBs came up, and I replied that, as long as the CU complied with annex ZA of the relevant BSEN (60439-3?), the PSC of the board was 16KA. He didn`t know this, and wasn`t actually aware of "annex ZA". He did find out by the next assessment, and confirmed it - all nicey.

We regularly have "discussions" - I took him to a property where the incomers are located communally for 4 flats. The existing tails run in the walls - I`m altering them, as I do a flat, to tails within trunking, on the surface. He queried about RCD protection, and lack of CPC within the enclosure. I replied that, AFAIAC, the tails are double insulated, and on the surface, therefore 7671 does not require an RCD for compliance. He disagrees personally, but cannot mark me down for a technical issue, as none exists. All he said was that he would have a time-delayed 100mA front-end; which I was attempting to avoid (TT supply; although the individual ECs are taken to the respective CU within each flat).

KME

 

[green-hornet]

Very nice KME, shows that even when different opinions are aired, because you know your stuff you can not nor will not be marked down for it.

I think this is a good point for the Doctor to have a look at as well, as I like his take on such things.

Thanks KME for sharing it with us.

 

[green-hornet]

Update for you guys.

Assessment today and I asked him some questions as suggested.

I think I should have waited until after the assessment rather than before

Anyway on the subject of failures, he has failed some assessments, he told me that any slight non conformance that can easily be put right can be done so without a re-visit providing proof is shown that the remedial work is carried out, he would still issue a non conformance report though.

Exporting pme earths, he just refered to the regulations and compliance with the requirements ie any metal service pipes in the garage etc etc.

I also asked about random rather than anual checks, he told me this may not always work because people may not have the work to show if the checks where carried out at random intervals.

On the subject of passing anyone he thinks should not be he said definately no, if he thinks they are not up to the job its a simple failure.

Overall the assessment went well, I was asked more questions than the year before, probably because I started asking questions before my assessment.

I did struggle on one question but it was more brain freeze than I did not know, I said I would look it up in the book then remembered before I opened the pages.

So I passed again this year put the kettle on

Footnote I gave him the address of the forum told him to check it out.

 

[Evans Electric]

Better watch what we say now then !!!

 

[Apache]

Well done GH

 

[Andy™]

nice to know the result

 

[steptoe]

I wonder how many guys pass the first assessment but then go on to fail it in year 2.

bet that would prob be a fairly high proportion of the short scheme guys.