An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure.^[1] Electricians may also specialize in wiring ships, airplanes and other mobile platforms. In the film industry and on a television crew the Electrician is referred to as a Gaffer.

"Electrician" and "electrical contractor" are related terms. An electrician is an individual tradesperson; an electrical contractor is a business that employs electricians to design, install, and maintain electrical systems. In most of the United States, separate licensing requirements exist for electricians and electrical contractors. Electricians are typically not allowed to perform work for the public unless under the employment of an electrical contractor.

History[link]

Also see main article Lineman-History

The trade is the newest of the traditional trades, beginning with the advent of telegraph lines in the 1800's.

Terminology[link]

In the United States, electricians are sometimes referred to as a electrical wire men as opposed to Electrical linemen, who work on electric utility company distribution systems at higher voltages. Electrical contracting is divided into four areas: commercial, residential, light industrial, and industrial wiring. Service electricians have considerable skills troubleshooting wiring problems, wiring, and making repairs. Construction electricians focus on the actual wiring of buildings and may have few skills troubleshooting wiring problems. Other specialty areas are marine electricians, research electricians and hospital electricians. "Electrician" is also used as the name of a role in stagecraft, where electricians are tasked primarily with hanging, focusing, and operating stage lighting. In this context, the Master Electrician is the show's chief electrician. Although theater electricians routinely perform electrical work on stage lighting instruments and equipment, they are not part of the electrical trade and have a different set of skills and qualifications from the electricians that work on building wiring.

Training and regulation of trade[link]

An electrician hooking up a generator to a home's electrical panel.

Most jurisdictions require qualifications to do work on any electrical apparatus with voltages above a specified electric potential to ground. This is normally anywhere from 24 to 100 volts depending on the governing body. Many companies have their own voltage limit rules as well.

In most countries, the job of an electrician is a regulated trade for safety reasons due to the many hazards of working with electricity, requiring testing, registration, or licensing. Licensing of electricians is controlled through government or professional societies.

United States[link]

In the US, licensing requirements for construction work are controlled by local building officials. Typically, certain types of electrical work are only permitted to be performed by a Journeyman or Master electrician. The requirements for becoming a journeyman or master electrician, and the types of work they are permitted to do, vary between individual states; however, there are often interstate reciprocity agreements. Not all states offer a statewide journeyman or master electrician license, and the license may be limited to the county or city's licencing board.

Before electricians are allowed to work without supervision, they are usually required to serve an apprenticeship lasting from 3 to 5 years under the general supervision of a Master Electrician and usually the direct supervision of a Journeyman Electrician. Schooling in electrical theory and electrical building codes are required to complete the apprenticeship program. Many apprenticeship programs provide a salary to the apprentice during training. A Journeyman electrician is a well rounded craftsman who has met the experience requirements for on the job training (usually 4080 to 6120 hrs) and classroom hours (about 144 hrs.); they may also have a two year relevant degree and another two to three years of apprenticeship training and have passed a licensing exam for their jurisdiction, be it state, county or city. They are trained in all phases of electrical construction installation in various building styles (residential, commercial, industrial, basic electronics) and maintenance of equipment after installation. All of their time is well documented under the jurisdiction of the state government in order for their time to be credited. A Journeyman is usually permitted to perform all types of electrical work except the design of electrical systems, although in some jurisdictions a Journeyman may design systems within certain limits. By contrast, a residential electrician is only permitted to work on residential projects with limitations (for example under 4 stories), and apprenticeship is typically four to five years. In certain states like Michigan, to go on to be a Master Electrician and then an electrical contractor, a journeyman has to work another two years past his passing of the extensive exam given and then apply to take the Master's exam which is another very rigid exam. Then they can apply for an electrical contractors license according to the guidelines of that government.

United Kingdom[link]

Whilst electrical trade organisations such as the JIB (joint industry board) try to define and regulate KSA (Knowledge, Skill, Attitude) requirements, such as City and guilds 2330 Levels 2 and 3, City and Guilds National Vocational Qualification Level 2 and 3, completion of a recognised apprenticeship (with appropriate qualification) or suitable practical/vocational training (with appropriate qualification) there is no specific regulations or rules on who may operate or refer to themselves as an 'Electrician' in the UK.

General standards (and protections) are set either within a variety of Regulations such as BS7671 - Electrical Installations, Building Regulations (such as Part P), etc., which require work to be designed, installed and maintained according to those standards or better. Specific standards for niche applications, such as JSP482 - Manufacture and Storage of Explosives, BS EN 62305 - Lightning Protection, etc., must be complied with but do not necessarily require qualification but rather verification of competence. Most commonly the Test & Inspection of an installation and subsequent signing of documents to confirm suitability and safety may only be carried out by a qualified (rather than competent) person, the most common qualification being BS2391 - Test & Inspection of Electrical Installations.

Canada[link]

In most Canadian jurisdictions, a supply authority will not connect power to a new building unless a licensed electrician has applied for the electrical permit (some provinces allow a homeowner to obtain his or her own electrical permit). Similarly to the United States, training of electricians follows an apprenticeship model, taking four or five years to progress to fully qualified journeyman level.^[2] Typical apprenticeship programs emphasize hands-on work under the supervision of journeymen, but also include a substantial component of classroom training and testing. Training and licensing of electricians is regulated by each province, but many provinces recognize qualifications received in others. The red seal program allows qualified electricians to practice their trade in other provinces without having to write additional examinations.^[3]

Restricted electrical licenses are also issued for specializations such as motor winder, appliance repair, audio/visual installation, HVAC installation, and similar jobs.

Australia[link]

An Electrician's License entitles the holder to carry out all types of electrical installation work in Australia without supervision. However, to contract, or offer to contract, to carry out electrical installation work, a licensed electrician must also be registered as an electrical contractor. Australian residents require the service of a local electrician for a range of works including Air Conditioning, Data, and structured cabling systems, Home Automation & Theatre, LAN, WAN and VPN data solutions, Light fittings and Installation, Phone points, Power points, Safety inspections and reports, Safety switches, Smoke alarm installation, inspection and certification and Testing and tagging of electrical appliances.

Electrical licensing in Australia is regulated by the individual states. In Western Australia the Department of Commerce tracks licensee's and allows the public to search for individually named/licensed Electricians.^[4]

Currently in Victoria the apprenticeship last for four years, during three of those years the apprentice attends trade school in either a block release of one week each month or one day each week. At the end of the apprenticeship the apprentice is required to pass three examinations, one of which is theory based with the other two practically based. Upon successful completion of these exams, providing all other components of the apprenticeship are satisfactory, the apprentice is granted an A Class licence on application to Energy Safe Victoria (ESV).

An A Class electrician may perform work unsupervised but is unable to work for profit or gain without having the further qualifications necessary to become a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC) or being in the employment of a person holding REC status. However, some exemptions do exist.^[5]

In most cases a certificate of electrical safety must be submitted to the relevant body after any electrical works are performed.

Tools[link]

The electrician's trade requires use of a range of hand and power tools and instruments. Usually an electrician will have a personal set of hand tools and general-purpose test instruments, with the more costly power tools or instruments provided by the employer or business.

Two of the tools commonly used by electricians. The fish tape is used to pull conductors through conduits, or sometimes to pull conductors through hollow walls. The conduit bender is used to make accurate bends and offsets in electrical conduit.

Some of the more common tools are:

• Pipe and tube bender
• voltage indicators
• Lineman's pliers: Heavy-duty pliers for general use in cutting, bending, crimping and pulling wire.
• Diagonal pliers (also known as side cutters or Dikes): Pliers consisting of cutting blades for use on smaller gauge wires, but sometimes also used as a gripping tool for removal of nails and staples.
• Needle-nose pliers: Pliers with a long, tapered gripping nose of various size, with or without cutters, generally smaller and for finer work (including very small tools used in electronics wiring).
• Wire strippers: Plier-like tool available in many sizes and designs featuring special blades to cut and strip wire insulation while leaving the conductor wire intact and without nicks. Some wire strippers include cable strippers among their multiple functions, for removing the outer cable jacket.
• Cable cutters: Highly leveraged pliers for cutting larger cable.
• Rotosplit: A brand-name tool designed to assist in breaking the spiral jacket of metallic-jacketed cable (MC cable).
• Multimeter: A battery-powered instrument for electrical testing and troubleshooting; common features include the ability to measure and display voltage, resistance, and current with other types of measurements included depending on the make and model. Are available in digital or analogue.
• Step-bit: A metal-cutting drill bit with stepped-diameter cutting edges, generally at 1/8-inch intervals, for conveniently drilling holes to specification in stamped/rolled metal up to about 1/16" thick; for example, to create custom knock-outs in a breaker panel or junction box.
• Cord, rope or fish tape. Used to 'fish' cables and wires into and out of cavities. The fishing tool is pushed, dropped, or shot into the installed raceway, stud-bay or joist-bay of a finished wall or in a floor or ceiling. Then the wire or cable is attached and pulled back.
• Crimping tools: Used to apply terminals or splices. These may be hand or hydraulic powered. Some hand tools have ratchets to insure proper pressure. Hydraulic units achieve cold welding, even for aluminum "locomotive" [many fine strands] cable.
• Insulation Resistance Tester: Commonly referred to as a Megger. Insulation testers apply several hundred to several thousand volts to cables and equipment to determine the insulation resistance value of the item being tested. Modern insulation resistance testers often have a ohm meter function available and are often included as a function of a multimeter.
• Knockout punch: For punching holes into sheet metal to run wires or conduit.
• Other general-use tools with applications in electric power wiring include screwdrivers, hammers, reciprocating saws, drywall saws, metal punches, flashlights, chisels, adjustable slip-joint pliers and drills.
• Test light
• Ground Fault Indicator Tester

Safety[link]

In addition to the workplace hazards generally faced by industrial workers, electricians are also particularly exposed to injury by electricity. An electrician may experience electric shock due to direct contact with energized circuit conductors or due to stray voltage caused by faults in a system. An electric arc exposes eyes and skin to hazardous amounts of heat and light. Faulty switchgear may cause an arc flash incident with a resultant blast. Electricians are trained to work safely and take many measures to minimize the danger of injury. Lockout and tagout procedures are used to make sure that circuits are proven to be de-energized before work is done. Limits of approach to energized equipment protect against arc flash exposure; specially designed flash-resistant clothing provides additional protection; grounding (earthing) clamps and chains are used on line conductors to provide a visible assurance that a conductor is de-energized. Personal protective equipment provides electrical insulation as well as protection from mechanical impact; gloves have insulating rubber liners, and work boots and hard hats are specially rated to provide protection from shock. If a system cannot be de-energized, insulated tools and special live-line training are used; even high-voltage transmission lines can be repaired while energized, when necessary.^[6]

Electricians had the highest rate of fatalties by electrocution, accounting for 34% of the total electrocutions of construction trades workers in the United States between 1992–2003.^[7]

Working conditions[link]

Working conditions for electricians vary by specialization. Generally an electrician's work is physically active, with climbing of ladders and lifting of tools and supplies. Occasionally an electrician must work in a cramped space or on scaffolding, and may frequently be bending, squatting or kneeling, to make connections in awkward locations. Construction electricians may spend much of their days in outdoor or semi-outdoor noisy and dirty worksites. Industrial electricians may be exposed to the heat, dust, and noise of an industrial plant. Power systems electricians may be called to work in all kinds of adverse weather to make emergency repairs. Because of the training and skills required, an electrician's job pays better than general labor; for example, in 2005 in one province of Canada, electricians were the highest-paid of the trades. ^[8] Some electricians work under union collective agreements with closely defined employment conditions, others are independent contractors who must charge based on current local market conditions.

Trade organizations[link]

In North America, electricians are represented by several unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Workers; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; United Auto Workers; and the United Steelworkers.^[9]
Many merit-shop training and apprenticeship programs also exist, including those offered by such as trade associations as Associated Builders and Contractors, National Electrical Contractors Association [1], and Independent Electrical Contractors. These organizations provide comprehensive training, in accordance with U.S. Department of Labor regulations.
http://www.bls.gov/k12/build06.htm.

In Australia, electricians can choose to be represented by the Electrical Trade Union (ETU). Electrical Contractors can be represented by Master Electricians Australia or the National Electrical & Communications Association.

In the U.K., electricians are represented by several unions including Unite the Union

In the Rep. of Ireland there are two self regulation/self certification bodies RECI Register of Electrical Contractors of Ireland and ECSSA.

See also[link]

• Lineman (occupation)
• Gaffer (term used in film and television)
• Electrician (theater)
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• List of electricians, notable individuals who have worked as electricians

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Electricians

• Electricians – from the BLS
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Division of Apprenticeship Standards – Electrician Certification Program
• How to Become an Electrician Vocational Skill Set Information Center