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What Duties & Tasks Does an Electrician Perform?
- Reading and interpreting electrical, mechanical and architectural drawings and electrical code specifications to determine wiring layouts.
- Cutting, threading, bending, assembling and installing conduits and other types of electrical conductor enclosures and fittings.
- Pulling wire through conduits and holes in walls and floors.
- Positioning, maintaining and installing distribution and control equipment such as switches, relays, circuit breaker panels and fuse enclosures.
- Installing data cabling or fibre-optic systems.
- Testing circuits to ensure integrity and safety.
What skills and abilities must I have to become an Electrician?
- Good communication and reading skills;
- An aptitude for Mathematics;
- Mechanical ability, strength and manual dexterity;
- The ability to distinguish colours to work with colour-coded wiring (Must not be colour blind);
- The ability to work at heights;
- The ability to lift between 11 and 25 kilograms;
- The ability to get along well with co-workers;
- The willingness to keep up with new developments in the field;
- The ability to create new ways of doing things;
- The ability to do very precise work expertly; and
- Ability to work at a variety of exciting tasks.
What are the working conditions of an Electrician?
Electricians usually work a 40 or 45 hour, five-day week plus overtime when required. In construction, there may be no guarantee of permanent work. Working conditions can change dramatically from one job to another, varying from indoors in clean conditions to outdoors on scaffolding, to indoors in cramped conditions.
