Sri Lanka to establish professional status to electricians: PUCSL

Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator, is to establish an accepted professional status for electricians in the country through accrediting their qualifications and experience, the Sri Lankan government announced yesterday.

The proposed mechanism was developed by PUCSL in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), Tertiary, Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) and Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (PVT) Limited (LECO).

Explaining the reasons behind the initiative taken, Director General of Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Damitha Kumarasinghe said, “Sri Lanka has reported 106 electrocutions in the year 2017. 55 percent of the electrocutions have occurred due to the issues of wiring, maintenance and non-standards. With the system is in place, the professional status of the electricians will be uplifted as well as the safety & quality of the electrical installation will be assured.”

PUCSL launched a public consultation on accrediting and licensing of electricians with a view of receiving the public, expertise and other stakeholder comments on the proposed mechanism. The comments will be accommodated to improve the proposed system.

Sri Lanka has about 21000 electricians and data shows that only a few of them are qualified in National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). Most of the wiring and maintenance of the households and other premises are carried out by electricians who have no recognized qualifications but have experience through practice.

With the introduction of the mechanism, all the electricians will be issued a temporary license to continue their work and that license will only be valid for three (03) years.

For those who are qualified with National Vocational Qualification 3 (NVQ 3) and above can obtain a permanent license from CIDA within a day, after proving their knowledge at the evaluation facilitated by the Evaluation Panel.

For those who are not professionally qualified, but have hands-on experience, are given the opportunity to prove the competency and to qualify for NVQ levels through a process facilitated by CIDA, so that they can apply for the permanent license.

With the permanent license, electricians can design, wire, test, the installation of domestic wiring (30 amps Signal phase) and issue a certificate to get the electrical connection which is accepted by CEB and LECO.