Electrical students give charity a boost

Some of our Electrical students are using their skills to assist local charity Orphans Aid, by testing & tagging donated small appliances so they can be safely sold in the charity's North Dunedin OpShop.

Test & Tag is an official process which checks the safety of portable electrical appliances.

It's mandatory for some industries including construction, demolition, and mining but is carried out by a range of business to ensure the safety of employees and to reduce the risk of potential liability.

Orphans Aid relies on the donation of second-hand goods from members of the public, including clothing and household goods. Money raised from the OpShops goes towards supporting the work of the charity.

Principal Lecturer Brian Freeman (centre) watches over students Sienna Collins (L) and Finn Bowman (R)

Donated small appliances need to be checked for safety before they can be sold on to customers. However, the cost of that process can be prohibitive for small charities like Orphans Aid.

To help out, students from Otago Polytechnic's popular NZ Certificate in Electrical Pre-Trade (Level 3) programme have been carrying out the regular test & tag work on behalf of the charity.

The ongoing partnership is a supervised arrangement, which Principal Lecturer Brian Freeman says provides useful hands-on experience for ākonga, and puts into practice skills they're learning as part of their training.

* Check out this week's edition of The Star newspaper for more details about this partnership between our Electrical students and Orphans Aid