Electrical Association

From the President: Register Now! Exciting New Education Offerings

Written by Judi Rubin

Your use of MEA's classes makes a huge contribution to the industry. The more you use MEA's services-the more money the association has to develop new programs to serve you and your employees.

Paul Krmpotich, MEA's new Senior Training Specialist, has been working with the Education Committee to cook up new offerings. While Paul is too full of fun to salute, we have jokingly dubbed him the Instructor General. Here are some of our new offerings:

Licensing Exam Prep

Classes will continue to be much the same, but there will be two exciting additions that will run in the metro area once a month on average:

Simulated Exam: The exam will be structured to mirror the licensing exam where students will check their electronics; get a code book without tabs and a calculator; a proctor who will not answer questions; not be able to take anything out of the room when they go on breaks; and cover the same subject areas. The only differences will be that they will have more questions; 8 hours instead of 5 hours; receive different questions; and they will get the results so they have an idea of what they need to study.

Q & A: Students who have taken the Exam Prep Class within the last twelve months will be able to drop in to this 4-hour session and ask any questions they may have. The cost for members will be $10 and will cover the cost of cookies, coffee and other incidentals.

Apprentice Training

Apprentice classes start the first of November...and will be more exciting as the trainers offer new ways for students to participate. Your ideas about what works best will guide Paul and the apprentice committees as the course goes through greater updating in the next year. Please make sure to register early so your apprentices can take any testing and tutoring they will need to ensure success.

NFPA 70E Training

NFPA 70E classes (up to 8 hours), NFPA 70E books & tabs...OSHA is expecting business owners within the industry to train without using mandates, requirements or fines. If you have an accident-they will expect you to have complied with the requirements in NFPA 70E and the fines can be huge. Here are two examples of fines issued (and reduced for training, compliance measures, and exemptions) by MN OSHA:

• $50,000 for a worker crushed on an excavation site after being contested (2008);
• $55,000 for the death of two electricians during the construction of the PJH Center (1998).

MEA's class is good insurance to understand this standard and know what to do in order to comply. Four- and 8-hour in-house classes are available for contractors, companies and small groups.

OSHA 10-Hour Training

Increasingly, companies, general contractors, and owners are driven by concern for employees and high insurance costs to require OSHA 10-Hour certification cards, and up to 8% are now requiring the OSHA 30-hour certification cards. Concern for safety reduces accidents, increases morale, and lowers insurance premiums. Classes are available for contractors, companies, and small groups.

NEC Code Training

Look for new topics for MEA's code classes including grounding, over current protection, related technical hours for Allen Bradley products and more.
Paul and the staff are a blur of activity and excitement as we develop new ways to help members be more successful.

Thank you for your ongoing support and have a great month! -Judi