Returning to Work After an Accident? Consider Taking Electrical Classes

As an electrician, you might have always tried hard to keep yourself and others safe while at work. Still, accidents can happen to even the best contractor. Whether you fell off a ladder or scaffold while performing electrical work or you suffered from an electric shock, you might have had to take some time off.

Now that your doctor has cleared you to return to work, you may want to consider taking electrical classes. This might not seem necessary if you had plenty of training and experience before your accident, but it might be something to consider for these reasons.

Learn the Newest Safety Guidelines

Of course, you probably want to do what you can to avoid being injured at work in the future. To help ensure that you stay safe, you should consider taking electrical safety training classes before returning to work.

You can refresh your memory about safety tips and guidelines that you might have forgotten about, and you can learn about the newest and most up-to-date safety recommendations.

There are a variety of safety training classes for electricians, including many that are OSHA-approved. Some will teach you about wearing proper safety gear, and others will teach you about identifying and handling potentially dangerous situations.

Freshen Your Skills

Not only is it a good idea to take refresher courses about safety, but you may want to take some basic electrical classes, too. This could be particularly beneficial if you were seriously injured and were out of work for a long recovery period.

Now is also a good time to take classes to learn new skills; for example, if you have always done residential electrical work, it might be time to take classes about commercial or industrial work. You might just find that you will come back from your recovery period with more skills than ever before so that you are fully prepared to jump back into the workforce.

Renew Your License

In many states, you are required to work a certain number of hours per year or are required to take refresher courses in order to maintain your electrical license. Depending on the laws in your state and the amount of time that you were out of work, your license might have lapsed while you were in recovery. If not, it might be almost time for your renewal anyway.

In Ohio, for example, you must complete at least eight hours of continuing education classes and must renew your electrician’s license before the renewal date. You can choose to renew once a year or once every three years, with different prices and continuing education requirements for each. If your license has lapsed, then you may need to take refresher courses and may even need to re-take the licensing exam.

Find out from your state licensing board about what steps, if any, you need to take in order to renew your electrician’s license or keep it valid. Chances are good that you will need to take classes along the way.

Find Another Job

Depending on how long you were out of work, you may not be able to return to your position at the company that you worked for when you had your accident. This means that it might be time for you to find another job so that you can return to the workforce.

Taking continuing education classes could be a good way to improve your resume, potentially making it easier for you to find a good job. You could also learn how to start your own electrical business if this is something that you are interested in.

If you’re ready to return to work after a workplace accident, contact us at Independent Electrical Contractors of Greater Cincinnati to find out how our courses can help.