When on is the only option, the skill of the technicians installing and maintaining your battery system could make all the difference. Battery backup system failures occur for many reasons; however, two of the most common are improper installation or inadequate maintenance. Having qualified and trained DC power technicians install and maintain the battery system is your first line of defense against loss of critical load.
The days of “just link the batteries together and it will run” are long gone in the world of critical power. Newer battery technologies often have specific installation requirements and tight tolerances that if not adhered to can result in premature failure or even catastrophic failure. Monitoring systems, proper grounding, rack construction, spill containment, battery safety, warranty considerations, building codes as they apply to batteries and even how the actual battery connections are made are all areas that require specialized training specific to DC battery systems.
With this in mind, Sure Power is committed to providing its customers with the most well trained technicians in the industry. Whereas “jack of all trades” electrical contractors may have limited experience and training in DC power, Sure Power technicians are trained on and work with batteries every day.
New Sure Power employees go through extensive 40 hour training prior to stepping foot on a worksite. This training includes tasks such as driving a truck, prepping batteries for install, securing batteries for transport, watering and cleaning, operating a forklift and pallet jack, OSHA required annual training and general battery and battery room safety.
This first week training gives new employees the confidence and knowledge to be an effective assistant, and lays the groundwork for their path to becoming a technician. It also assures they have an understanding of the many hazards they will face when working with and around batteries.
After graduating our first week orientation training, new employees continue their training both in the classroom and in the field for the length of their career with Sure Power. Our classroom courses and training content is based largely on IEEE 1657 Recommended Practice for Personnel Qualifications for Installation and Maintenance of Stationary Batteries. Under the supervision of a qualified technician, assistant techs are given the chance to apply the concepts and skills learned in the classroom to actual field work. As an employee completes various courses and demonstrates their competency, they are qualified on a per-task basis. Once an employee qualifies for all the tasks at their level they move from assistant to technician. Technicians who master all the tasks and also complete supervisory training can become lead techs.
Our apprenticeship approach to training ensures that the technicians we send out to work on your system are qualified according to nationally recognized standards. This is important. In general, an electrician’s license is not required for this specialized work, which means you have to rely on a contractor’s word that their techs are qualified.
If quality and reliability are important when choosing a company for battery work, we highly encourage asking your bidding contractors for proof of qualification, and a blueprint of their training curriculum.
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