colour blindness ?

[clayton13]

Hi there, I just want to run a question past you guys, i want to start training as an electrician but i'm concerned about the rules regarding colour blindness, i am colour blind but i feel this shouldnt be a problem ( Should it ? )

Will i be asked to pass a colour blindness test at any point ?

Are there any colour blind electricians on this forum ?

Regards

Steve

 

[NickD]

Please don't think I'm having a go at you mate because I'm not but what would happen if you were on your own on a job?

Brew up and read the paper, obviously, same as the rest of us.

 

[Darkwood]

There are many levels of colour blindness and it may be the case that severe forms are tested for hence reflected in some comments but your interest in wanting to be a sparks indicates you are probably not hampered that way.
The colour blind test do check for different colour cone problems and some may well be a disadvantage like multi-cone deficiency where you are blind to many ranges of colours but again you will probably know what your problem areas are and if it will effect you.

 

[Lou7]

Some of the training schemes make you sit colour tests, my son is colour blind, we rang the local colleges, some made you do the test others didn't. The only job I've ever had to sit one was with BT. So I guess it's up to the employer.

 

[7029 dave]

When I went for an apprentership with Haydon Young years ago had to take colour test, failed, took one with BT passed, load of old rubbish never ever had a problem with seeing any colours bunched together or single!!.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

I know two colour blind electricians and they do not seem to have any problems. They are both green/brown/red colour blind. They're both qualified so they must have either passed any test they were given or there was no test.

I think its more down to how colour blind you are, so its up to you to decide if its a problem.

If you do have to have a test then I suggest these EnChroma | Color For The Color Blind or just search for chromagen glasses.

Colour blind tests just get you to distinguish shapes or numbers, which you must have taken as a child. The above glasses dont help you to know what the colour is but they do enable you to see the difference between the colours enabling you to pass the test.

Good luck.

 

[fuel]

When I started serving my time I had to take a colour vision test, any hint of a problem would have meant me making another career choice because I would not have been allowed to follow the path I did.
Funny how times change.

This is exaxtly what i thought and was told several times in the past year, hene what i thought, and there are too many genuine wind-ups floating about here latley...

Ive learnt something today, i apologise and sincerely hope i havent offended you in any way Clayton13. Good luck to you and all the best for the future.

 

[Sintra]

I remember an old spark who was fine until they brought in the harmonised colours. He ended up taking early retirement due to it as he felt he had become a liability.

 

[Jaxo]

I would check this out properly before starting your apprenticeship.. ... I had an apprentice a about 6 years ago who got tested in his second year and was found to be colour blind (Although he already knew himself) and they told him he couldnt continue... 2 years wasted

 

[jaypp]

I bet there's an 'app' for identifying colours. If not, I'm gonna patent it!!:smile5:

edit: just googled this; colour identifier

already available!

 

[Silly Sausage]

I bet there's an 'app' for identifying colours. If not, I'm gonna patent it!!:smile5:

edit: just googled this; colour identifier

already available!

I worked on that colour coding 25 years ago when I was C programmer for a colour measurement type company.
Old hat!

 

[sarky spark]

On my first day at college during the first year of my apprenticeship (26 years ago) everyone did a colour blindness test. One of the guys failed it and got moved to a bricky apprenticeship.
As well as mains cable there is also data,telecoms,alarms,controls wiring to think about.

 

[Adam W]

When I started my training one of the first things they did before enrolment was a colour vision test.
As sarky spark says once you get onto the job it isn't just brown, black, grey, red, blue, yellow, green & yellow - you could be expected to work with multicore cables with all sorts of colours. With certain cables I've had trouble distinguishing between brown and orange or pink and red, and I'm not even colour blind.

 

[ian.settle1]

Years ago when going for apprenticeships with large companies on of the tests was the Isihara colour blindness test which was coloured balls with a number inside, if you couldn't read the number then goodbye apprenticeship that was for them all.

I know it's not funny but could you imagine a colour blind painter.

 

[Hawkmoon]

I sometimes have trouble separating blue and green when they are toward the turquoise mix (what I see as bluish, others see as greenish).

Never had a problem with a colour test book or actual cables.

Mind you I do get a lot neutral to earth faults on my new installs...mmmmm

 

[shanky887614]

Years ago when going for apprenticeships with large companies on of the tests was the Isihara colour blindness test which was coloured balls with a number inside, if you couldn't read the number then goodbye apprenticeship that was for them all.

I know it's not funny but could you imagine a colour blind painter.

That's the one I did

 

[trev]

I'm not even colour blind.

You sure

 

[Adam W]

You sure

I've not been diagnosed as colour blind, although sometimes I'm not sure - I was working on this office refit with a guy who was supposedly a 'mate' but had been out of the game for a few years. Yeah one of those.
I went over to get my volt stick back off him and was confused as to what cable colours he was using - brown and very very very very very dark blue? Nah he'd found an old roll of black in the maintenance cupboard and used that instead of the blue we'd brought with us.

 

[kduck]

Am colour blind, was in my second year apprenticeship when they came across my green card stating I was colour blind. Got kick off the course straight away.

Now if I read the book of dots I can not do it, I can see colours ok all I can not do is see very very slight different shades which most people would not be able to see.

Had to go for a H&S test which cost me a weeks wages back then, did the test and pasted.

 

[Adam W]

I found this on line:
Take the Ishihara Color Vision Test
We were talking about this at work the other day; apparently the first one is visible to everyone whether they're colour blind or not; it's to weed out people deliberately trying to fail the test. The next ones are randomly selected from a bank so you can't 'revise' for the test (cheat). I seem to remember whenever I've done it I haven't been able to see anything on the last slide - I suspect this may also be deliberate.

 

[trev]

Apparently the last one is something that only colour blind people will see Adam

 

[SPARK2B]

I know two colour blind electricians and they do not seem to have any problems. They are both green/brown/red colour blind. They're both qualified so they must have either passed any test they were given or there was no test.

I think its more down to how colour blind you are, so its up to you to decide if its a problem.

If you do have to have a test then I suggest these EnChroma | Color For The Color Blind or just search for chromagen glasses.

Colour blind tests just get you to distinguish shapes or numbers, which you must have taken as a child. The above glasses dont help you to know what the colour is but they do enable you to see the difference between the colours enabling you to pass the test.

Good luck.

.....that....is.....AMAZING!!!