Online HV Refresher Course what alternatives to MTCS

[subman]

As we all know its almost a mandatory requirement to hold a HV cert and in the past you would do the MTCS online refresher course now its all changed .

My MTCS HV course is due to expiry next month does any body know who does a online refresher course ? MTCS used to do a online refresher course for £100 however when I asked them today all I was told was " Thank you for your enquiry regarding our High Voltage training course through MTCS Online

You may purchase the course from our website (£354 including VAT) at http://www.mtcsuk.com/training/high-voltage?type=online "

This is the price for a full HV online course not a refresher , The online refresher I seem to remember was £100 Just waiting for MTCS to confirm this , If it is now a requirement thats £354 every 3 years that your need to add on to all the other certs .

Does any other company do a online HV refresher course I wonder ? I know business is bad but that one hell of a price jump for a online refresher course .

Ok MTCS have just got back to me and confirmed every 3 years you must do a full online HV course at £354 and the HV refresher course is no longer available , So What alternatives are there ?

Talk about milking the cow !

[john nangle]

How many people learn to drive and get issued a driving licence that is practically valid for life … almost everyone

That’s because once a person is trained they generally remain competent …

VAST MAJORITY !

However,

With the ROV industry we all need constant refreshers …

IS IT ME OR IS THAT ?

[subman]

Hi Rov-Parts

I think most of us feel the same I fully understand that business is bad at the moment but we are talking about just a online Rov HV refresher course , This online course was only £100 a few years ago so it was a good deal but to be told sorry you need to do the full Online HV course all over again and this needs to be done every 3 years at the price of £354 is a bit over the top.

If all personnel are required do this full HV course what happens with the practical element of the course because due to the current recession you may find it impossible due to the lack of work as from speaking to many of the guys they have not worked for over 12 – 18 months . Will MTCS still issue a cert without the practical side being signed off .

Sounds like catch22 you cant get the job because you dont have a HV cert and without the job you cant get signed off . !

At the end of the day its what the client will accept and wont accept . I will drop a email to IMCA and see what they have to say but I have a feeling they will just say its up to MTCS in what ever business models they use the problem is MTCS has sent there agents all over the globe convincing clients that this is the way to go and since there is no other alternatives in training standards MTCS gets away with it . Like you say you can pass your car test and your licence is good for many years but not in the Rov industry what with competence assessments every 3 years and now a full HV course every 3 years .

[john nangle]

I agree with you and the problem is EXACTLY the way these companies encourage companies and organisations to use them

The cost of this marketing and encouragement s probably 50% of the costs and what we all end up paying for re-certification of something we already have certification for !

Training people so that they don’t need to keep getting recertified is not in the interest of these organisations; that’s why they go for ‘ongoing competence assessment’

Hopefully IMCA will comment re the certs but as usual they need to preserve their ‘cash cow’ especially now most of the large contractors are going bust

IMCA ROV Supervisor(and other) Certificates are proof of IMCA’s inability to ‘rein in’ its ‘training’ members…

IMCA should revoke the membership of anyone saying they issue IMCA Certification AND tell all the companies that hire personnel…

Lets see if they can inject some sense into this 3 year nonsense…I wouldn’t put money on it…

There should be no offshore practical…if the person passes the online ‘whatever’ then they should be deemed safe…

If it can’t be done online then make a proper training course (instead of marketing trips to clients)

It would be a better use of the same money (our money)

[liddelljohn]

MTCS have now become a total leeching Pariah in the offshore industry , IMCA are like the UN full of hot air and powerless ,, or probably accepting back handers from vested interests such as MTCS ,

has anyone else noted that MTCS database often is useless , many guys who have payed for courses and have valid certs then find that when companies try to log in to MTCS for verification they cant get any results ???!!!!!! the guy may have an MTCS cert but the MTCS computer says NO whats that all about …a couple of agencies have also mentioned this hiccup has spoiled job offers for guys ,,, mainly with clients in Asia …

[john nangle]

That’s a good description of what they have become

The ROV industry needs a complete reset

[subman]

The problem is there are no alternatives and I have a feeling since this is the case MTCS standards will be adopted as the norm which means the end of free lance personnel because no body will be able to keep up with the cost of all the required certs since its not just a once off payment its every 3 years plus you have all OPITO , STCW and GWO courses all to keep up with these are just your basic certs , Then if UK does leave the EU our certs may not be valid in Europe .

But Little John is right about IMCA they will do nothing unless a training school states on the courses " IMCA Approved " and we all know " IMCA Approves nobody " but just issues guidelines and nothing more , Its all down to in the end if the client buys the idea or not .

But getting back on topic again with your full online HV course I understand that MTCS will issue a new cert once you have completed the online exam even if you have not signed off your practical side of the course but its still going to £354 GBP .

[john nangle]

in my opinion

personnel…we all got pushed out of salary and made day-rate and then we all got pushed out of day-rate and became free-lance

this was all done so the companies had ‘less people on the books’ and so insurances and the like were the ‘problem of someone else’

I was on one construction barge where a guy got injured and medevac’d off

The ‘days since accident’ wasn’t effected

I brought it up and the medic told me ‘no its correct’

I asked ‘how can it be correct?’

He said because it was a contractor

Basically 99% of the people wouldn’t effect the number even if dead!!!!

Until some one somewhere takes responsibility and does things right the ROV industry will be nothing more than totally ‘ducked up’ oops typo ‘F’

To come back on topic….its a waste of money without assurance that offshore part is not required

[liddelljohn]

New Hollywood expendables movie coming soon featuring ROV guys being abused by evil forces ,, and backstabbed by their employers ,,

[john nangle]

That’s a good one

I looked back at my first cert and it was as Assessor…grandfathered in

It said on the bottom…they didn’t warrant the work performance of the holder…

That was [me who they issued the certificate to access people…

That’s a good example of the BS with all of this rubbish

How many people have certs with such a statement??

[deepseacon]

You get a Cert which says

Knowledge assessment under the course title which is not on the main course Cert !!!!!

And when you complete the offshore part signed off by someone offshore then e-mail them that part they will e-mail another Full cert without those words on.

As the industry don’t know what it is all about

I have used that cert for years as no one understands the difference between the two of them.

The industry is clueless really.!!!

there are other provider’s who provide the same competence skills required by IMCA for HV awareness .

[john nangle]

http://www.imca-int.com/competence-and-training.aspx

the mother of the devil….

And they wonder why people say ‘IMCA CERTS’

[liddelljohn]

IMCA like many so called trade bodies, or quasi governmental bodies , or the UN or Brussels are living off the fat of the land they all sound high minded and praiseworthy and claim to improve and enforce standards and make a better world when the real truth are that they are little more than parasites that if they died tommorow no one would even miss them or mourn their passing except the people who are involved in the gravy trains who might have to make it in the real world ..

[john nangle]

harsh but probably true…

In regard to the ‘mess that we find ourselves in’

I would like for IMCA to answer just one question >>

Will they support to the idea of an ‘IMCA Certificate of Training’ which is valid indefinitely upon successful completion

This being similar to driving licences, trade certificates, degrees etc.

The scope of the training would be a mirror image of the competencies for a grade

So ‘candidate a’ comes to my school where I put him/her thru the entire competencies until such point I’m prepared to sign them off

ONCE SIGNED OFF THEY ARE SIGNED OFF FOR LIFE

I give them a nice certificate that they KEEP and can show anyone

I might even throw in a nice plastic card ….just like a driving licence

That’s right the type that 99% of the planet have AND NEVER REDO

[Author]

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