Electrical Training
Hawkins are able to provide electrical training courses for fire investigators. Our training is CPD accredited with the UK Association of Fire Investigators (UK-AFI) and consists of both theory and practical exercises.
The format of our electrical courses have been designed for suitably trained fire investigators working in either the public or private sectors.
Electricity for Fire Investigators
This two-day course provides 12 hours of CPD with the UK-AFI and includes the following content:
- Constructing various types of electrical circuits, using suitable extra low-voltage (<24V) Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC) power supplies, cables and components.
- Input covering conventional electrical wiring systems including relevant aspects of BS7671: 'Requirements for Electrical Installations' (known as the IET wiring regulations).
- Electrical safety when investigating fire scenes – to include isolation procedures, testing, lock-out and appropriate labelling.
- Input on the correct use of a non-contact voltage detectors, contact voltage detectors, and generic multi-meters.
- An overview of various types of circuit protection devices including: Fuses, Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs), Residual Current Devices (RCDs), RCBOs and Arc fault Detection Devices (AFDDs).
- Input to assist delegates with identifying electrical evidential indicators at fire scenes to assist with identifying causation.
- Input on the common electrical causes of fire, and the use of the electrical system with determining an area of origin (i.e. Arc Mapping).
- Information on suitable packaging materials and protocols specific to electrical evidence.
Other Courses
Hawkins also offers two additional 2-day courses titled ‘Large Electrical Appliance Course’ and ‘Electrical Installation Construction and Testing Course’. Each course provides 12 hours of CPD accredited by the UK-AFI.
If you would like further information on our training programmes, please get in touch.
TESTIMONIAL
Some of the team from Surrey fire and Rescue service were recently able to attend your Electricity for Fire Investigators course and Electrical Installations course at your office location in Reigate.
As a uniformed fire investigation team, we work across a multitude of situations, partnering with both other uniformed services and colleagues from the private sector.
Through our work we are always looking for ways to increase our fire investigation knowledge and the subject of electrics. I would like to add that the courses attended achieved just that. They provided the correct balance of understanding the fundamental basics of electricity and successfully migrated that information to role specific understanding of how and why electrical failure occurs in a fire scene and also how to identify and recreate those faults.
Please pass on my thanks to all involved in the delivery of the course, its input will be invaluable in our ongoing role as investigating officers.
Matt Oakley BSc (Hons)| BTEC (7) LETAPAEWE | Watch Commander
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service
Related areas of expertise
Electrical Engineering
With the prevalence of electrical and electronic devices in the modern world there is considerable scope for failures to occur. These can range from the failure of a single electronic component to failure of multi-megawatt power plants.