DUTY HOLDER (AUTHORISED PERSON)
COURSE 400: 2 DAYS: Max 8 Candidates
Many employers are justifiably concerned that, in the absence of a formal and routine method of assessing competence, it would be difficult to prove compliance with current statutory regulations. This course is designed to provide real evidence that personnel can safely carry out electrical and mechanical isolations. Repeating the course at regular intervals ensures that personnel retain the essential knowledge and continue to use best practices. For companies that prefer the course on-site, site-specific company documentation and procedures can be incorporated into the course.
PARTICIPANTS
The structure and content of the course is aimed at engineering / maintenance personnel that wish to attain or renew their Duty Holder status.
COURSE PRESENTATION
The course covers the statutory regulations, the dangers of electricity, safe systems of work and isolation procedures. Each candidate must complete both a knowledge based assessment and, most importantly, a practical assessment to ensure their understanding of the issues and an ability to apply best practices. Comprehensive course notes are provided.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
On completion of the course, participants will be able to
- demonstrate an understanding of the relevant statutory regulations (the Health & Safety at Work Act, the Electricity at Work Regulations, etc)
- demonstrate an understanding of the dangers associated with electricity and moving machinery
- understand the issues associated with guarding and interlocking
- comply with company procedures and complete associated documentation eg: permit to work, risk assessments, method statements, etc
- perform safe electrical and mechanical isolations in a range of common industrial scenarios.
Successful completion of the course leads to the award of the Technical Training Solutions competence certificate 400: Duty Holder (Authorised Person)
Note: The Duty Holders course is a combination of the EAW Regs (380) and the Electrical Isolations (420) courses. It combines the knowledge of the legal requirements with performance of the isolations to produce strong evidence for the candidates’ competence.
What do candidates on the Duty Holder (Authorised Person) course actually do?
In order to ensure that the candidates really understand the legal requirements, they spend the first part of the course refreshing their understanding of the Electricity At Work Regulations and the issues of live working, isolation procedures, testing for dead etc. They are also introduced to typical examples of employer's electrical policies and procedures (Company-specific policies can be introduced into the course at this stage).
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A written assessment is then administered to ensure that the candidates have understood all the important underpinning knowledge. They have to show a 100% understanding of 20 key multiple-choice questions.
The candidates then proceed to apply their knowledge in a demonstrable manner by completing a number of practical equipment isolation exercises. These isolations encompass single phase and three phase isolations on industrial, commercial and domestic systems.
The following is one of the boards that are used to check that the candidates are able to isolate a single-phase system properly:
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The following are two of the boards that are used to check that the candidates are able to isolate three-phase systems properly:
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The rigs used are slightly different, requiring the candidates to think carefully about the advantages and disadvantages of panel isolations, local or remote isolation etc.
Candidates on the Duty Holder (Authorised Person) course also have to show that they can create a sensitively thought-out isolation procedure for scenarios where production downtime versus the dangers of moving machinery have to be carefully balanced. To focus their minds on these issues we use a small conveyor with a range of isolation points for them to select from:
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Only when the instructor is satisfied that both practical and theory aspects have been met will the candidate be signed off as having successfully completed the course. This in turn will lead to the issuing of the Technical Training Solutions Duty Holder (Authorised Person) Certificate.