Improved Safety for Electricians

The project rationale was based on international reports which showed that the numbers of work related accidents in EU differ a lot, e.g. according to the standardised incidence rates (per 100,000 workers) of fatal injury at work, excluding road traffic accidents and accidents on board transport in the course of work for 2012 (Eurostat, ESAW, 2012). The partnership saw that Denmark was about the average in the EU, but still double the numbers from GB. Similar numbers were found in Spain, Cyprus, and Malta. One of the differences we could find was that in the project partner countries only GB had mandatory tests; e.g. employees in GB who get in contact with electricity (Building and Construction and industry) must pass a test on safety; the ECS (Electrotechnical Certification System). The main strength of the ECS is that it covers a wide range of safety issues and not just Electrotechnical dangers, out of 45 multiple choice questions only six are Electrotechnical, this has a major influence on wear and accident prevention. The importance of this can e.g. be seen in Denmark, where the National Research Centre for the Working Environment sent a questionnaire to 50,000 employed workers and received 27,000 responses (March 2014) that showed electricians compared to other work groups are involved in more than average numbers of accidents and suffer from more than average physical strain. The different regulations for electricians’ safety training/tests impede mobility, the project therefore has looked at ways of removing such barriers by developing eLearning materials (versions for online and face to face courses) to support the teaching of safety in relation to working with live electrical installations, repairs etc. as well as initial test and posttests as part of the teaching about work environment and safety for electricians.The content of the course modules (in Danish, English, Greek, Maltese, and Spanish) have been prepared so these can be used as part of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), the CLIL scaffolding is mainly based on online units with all words linked to dictionaries in 118 languages, this will help prepare craftsmen and apprentices for mobility.The project has two main target groups from the same sector; electricians and electricians’ apprentices, but the bulk of the proposed outcomes is suitable for all employees and apprentices in the construction industry. The project teams mapped differences in regulations governing the safety training and/or tests for electricians as well as differences between electrical installations in the countries. The college teams have developed a web-based OER (Open Educational Resource) in five languages (www.safety4el.net) which contains multimedia rich interactive materials (including VR videos) and cases for training Risk Assessment as well as a large volume of multiple choice questions on safety for electricians and other workers in the construction industry (www.safety4el.net/moodle). All training materials are now available in Danish, English, Greek, Maltese, and Spanish.To help exploit the project outcomes, the partners have prepared a curriculum course guide showing how to use the resources on an individual basis (long distance learning) and classroom teaching.During the project the developed materials have been tested to verify effectiveness and to improve the quality of the outcomes. Based on the findings the project teams compiled a recommendation for safety training and tests of electricians. The project consortium comprised five vocational colleges (Syddansk Erhvervsskole, Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri, Bridgwater and Taunton College, Malta College of Arts Science and Technology, and Intercollege) presenting Denmark, Cyprus, Great Britain, Malta, and Spain (from the Basque part of Spain) and a European NGO (European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training) with a direct access to Europe-wide networks and policy makers.The project website and OER are well listed in the major search engines, which resulted in 136,488 visits in the project period (NOT including traffic generated by robots etc.), in 2019 each visit on average resulted in opening 9.27 pages.All the project outputs are copyleft and may be used and edited as long as new outputs are also copyleft. The recommendations have been shared with relevant national and European organisations, e.g. the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, and the EC Directorate-General for Employment, Social affairs and Inclusion. The work to ensure sustainably and longer-term benefits is continued after the project co-funded period.