The New Jersey Independent Electrical Contractors Association (NJ-IEC). NJ-IEC is generally supportive of the proposed rule but recommends two changes.
· N.J.A.C. 13:31-1.7(c): NJ-IEC recognizes and agrees with the importance the Board places on the nine hour code and one hour law course (10 hour course). However, NJ-IEC believes the Board should allow the 10 hour course to be taken on-line, provided it is taken synchronously.
Let’s assume that there have been changes to nine NEC articles which must be covered in the 10 hour course. That’s nine hours for nine article changes, one per hour. Many CEU courses are approved for two hours and the pending proposal allows for unlimited synchronous learning and eight hours of asynchronous learning per cycle provided that asynchronous CEU courses may be no longer than two hours each. The pending proposal would allow for each of the nine article changes to be covered in a two hour on-line synchronous course, for a total of 18 hours. This means that a one hour presentation of each change must be conducted in person, while a more thorough two-hour review is allowed on-line. As such NJ-IEC believes the pending proposal should be amended to allow for the 10 hour course to be taken on-line synchronously.
· N.J.A.C. 13:31-1.7(d)5: NJ-IEC supports the proposal to allow for CEU credit for some OSHA safety courses taken on-line. OSHA has approved on-line vendors for both their 10 hour and 30 hour construction industry safety courses. The proposed rule only allows for 8 hours of total OSHA courses to be taken on-line and count for CEU credit. NJ-IEC recommends that this be amended to allow for 10 hours of OSHA safety to be taken on-line.