Apprenticeship training course

Highway electrical maintenance and installation operative (level 2)

Installing and servicing electrical support structures, equipment and systems on roads and motorways.

• Qualification level: 2 ; Equivalent to GCSE.
• Typical duration: 24 months
• Apprenticeship category: Construction and the built environment
• Maximum funding: £9,000 ; Maximum amount government will fund ; for apprenticeship training.
• Also known as:
  • Highway electrical operative
  • Highway installation operative
  • highway maintenance electrician
  • Highway maintenance operative
  • highway operative
  • highway site operative
  • highway technician
• Skills:
  Skills an apprentice will learn

  • Understanding the employer’s health and safety and environmental requirements and procedures. Applying these requirements and procedures by hazard identification, site specific risk assessments and following safe systems of work and applying these to their own work in order to keep themselves, their colleagues, other workers, pedestrians and the travelling public safe.
  • Understanding the employer’s requirements and identifying what work is required, what their responsibilities are and what plant, equipment, tools and materials are required. Applying this through the planning, preparation and organisation of their own works (e.g. by making sure the right materials are available) so that work can be carried out efficiently and without delay
  • Understanding the employer’s requirements. Being courteous and polite; getting on with others and communicating verbally or in writing effectively
  • Identification of the common types of highway electrical equipment and the underlying principles of how these are installed and maintained (e.g. street lights, traffic signals, traffic signs, safety cameras) – together with detailed specialised understanding on the chosen sub- sector(s). Applying this in practice by ensuring component parts are correctly assembled and installed; and by carrying out replacement of defective parts so that the equipment is safe and functions correctly
  • Understanding of and applying the employer’s requirements and typical installation techniques and hazards on site (including identifying and managing typical hazards e.g. traffic, members of the public, underground and overhead services (e.g. electricity, water, gas); Installing infrastructure equipment and some components (e.g. excavating and using lorry mounted cranes to install lighting columns or traffic signal posts; using steps or mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs) to install street lighting lanterns or traffic signal heads) safely (including the use and operation of plant, equipment and tools; safe lifting and safe excavation and reinstatement)
  • Understanding the practices of maintenance techniques both routine (e.g. regular inspections of internal wiring, structural inspection of the posts, changing lamps and cleaning streetlight bowls) and reactive (e.g. identifying typical faulty components such as lamps or fuses). Carrying these out in practice to ensure safe and efficient operations
  • Understanding the employer’s requirements and procedures covering emergency attendance and emergency work. Following procedures on site to identify hazards and the actions required to ensure the site is safe - (e.g. after a road traffic incident where a vehicle hits a streetlight or traffic signal - liaising with emergency services and electricity company, ensuring the site is safe for traffic and pedestrians)
  • Understand how to identify and apply the appropriate systems of surface protection (e.g. applying paint to lighting columns) safely and how to dispose of waste appropriately; Carrying out appropriate surface preparation safely (e.g. using mobile elevated work platforms, ensuring the public and property are protected from injury); Apply appropriate systems of surface protection safely;

Full information on Highway electrical maintenance and installation operative (level 2) is available from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

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