Does a Maintenance Electrician have to be a Licensed Electrician?
Does a Maintenance Electrician have to maintain an electrical license like residential/commercial electricians do??
A friend asked this question after reviewing an industrial maintenance electrician job description, the answer will surprise you. Below is my reply ...
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will give you an idea of how much more knowledge and skills
a maintenance electricians has to have compared to a
residential/commercial electrician. Every year the requirements
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I know it doesn't make sense, but most manufacturing electricians (IE: maintenance tech, instrument tech, maintenance mechanic, etc., whatever that particular employer is calling them at that moment) as describe in the industrial maintenance job description example he referenced ....
Do not maintain an electrician's license, in the USA anyway. Half of them or more, never had an electrical License. Its one of those "exceptions to the rule" I am always talking about. lol
It just evolved that way as in the beginning most manufacturing maintenance were primarily mechanics, then as automation and more electrical control evolved in the industry, and a couple cross job training phases/trends occurred, next thing you know, 'maintenance mechanics' where electricians too. :) Somewhere in that history, trade schools sprung up teaching industrial electricians and later instrument technicians too, but still not OJT trade requirement and annual renewal 'Electrician's License' requirement. In part all this came about because maintenance managers hired primarily based on what you can do, and what you have done in the past. Not what license, certificate or other piece of paper you had.
And the other way around is true too, the typical residential electrician, commercial electrician does not have anywhere near the skill and knowledge base required to be an industrial electrician (maintenance tech, instrument tech, maintenance mechanic, etc., whatever that particular employer is calling them at that moment).
What has been your experience with this? Is this basically the same for other countries? What about building maintenance? Apartment maintenance? Please use the comment area below to let me know.
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