SPARKYSTUDY NOTES
SPARKY STUDY NOTES sparkystudynotes.co.uk/learn/competency-and-your-test-instruments

Free notes

Competency, and your test instrumentsGS 38 or BS EN 61010. Which covers what?

Free from the notes: Sparky’s video on it, the section word for word as members see it, and a PDF to keep.

From Sparky’s full video lesson. Members get the whole lesson on every notes page.

The notes

Exactly as they are on the site.

Download these notesPDF · free to keep

Which hat are you wearing?

BS 7671 defines a skilled person by having adequate education, training and practical skills. Guidance Note 3 carries that forward, but now you're not just an installer. On any job you may be one, two or all three of:

DDesigner
Works out what goes in
CConstructor
The book's word for the installer
IInspector / tester
Verifies what's been installed. On the EIC there are three signature lines, and you may be signing all three.

Two standards, and the difference between them

StandardApplies to
BS EN 61010The instrument itself — your multifunction tester
HSE GS38The leads, probes and clips you plug into it
✋Don't say GS38 covers the whole unit. It doesn't. GS38 is the guidance note for test leads and everything associated with them. The tester is 61010.

Know your own kit — and don't borrow blind

You have your own tester, you've had it calibrated, you know it. Somebody hands you theirs. Do you trust it to give you the same results? Do you even know how to drive it?

  • All test equipment does the same tests — but some are more accurate, and budget brands behave differently from expensive ones.
  • Different makes think differently. If you're used to one and somebody hands you another, the sequence isn't the same.
  • A warning symbol on an unfamiliar instrument means nothing to you if you don't have the manual — and if you've only been handed the leads, you don't have one. Not every manufacturer puts theirs online.
Buy it before you need it. Test equipment is a serious investment. Don't buy it the day before — or the day of — a job. Get it, have a play, prove to yourself it does what you expect, then take it out.
?Does a qualification mean you know every installation? No. So if something is unfamiliar, or a result doesn't make sense — stop and find out why. Retest to confirm, then ask someone more experienced, look it up, or try a different instrument. Don't carry on through the sequence hoping it resolves itself.

GN3 · 1.1 and 1.2 · competency ★ BS EN 61010 · the instrument HSE GS38 · leads, probes and clips ★

Free section from Sparky Study Notes. The full Level 3 notes, 1,463 practice questions and the video lessons: sparkystudynotes.co.uk

Test yourself on it

The tests are in the members’ area. Get one wrong and it shows you why, and where to revise.

Get access

Get new notes and exam tips from Sparky

About one email a fortnight. Unsubscribe any time. Privacy notice

That was one section. There are 583.

Sparky Study Notes is the whole Level 3 syllabus written up like this: the explanation, the worked example, and where it is in your book. With a video lesson for every part and a practice paper for every exam.

  • 583sections of written notes
  • 35video lessons
  • 1,463practice questions
  • 146diagrams, redrawn
  • 18th Edition
  • Building Regs
  • PAT
  • Fundamental Inspection & Testing
  • Initial Verification
  • Periodic Inspection & Testing
Get access — £100 12 months. One payment. See what’s inside