Electrical Safety Board Report 2005-06
The Electrical Safety Act 2002 (PDF, 788 KB) provides a legislative framework to help protect people and property from the risks associated with electricity. The Act establishes a Commissioner for Electrical Safety, an Electrical Safety Board and three committees: the Electrical Safety Education Committee; the Electrical Licensing Committee and the Electrical Equipment Committee. All committees report to the board.
Mr Jack Camp was appointed Queensland's first Commissioner for Electrical Safety in October 2002 for five years. The Commissioner provides independent electrical safety advice to the Minister and chairs and manages the board and committees.
Board membership
Current membership of the Electrical Safety Board is:
Chair
Mr Jack Camp
Chief Executive of the Department of Industrial Relations
Mr Peter Henneken
Director-General
Representing employers
Mr Richard Cox
General Manager, Electrical and Communications Association, Queensland
Mr Bruce Lancaster
Estimator Business Services - Commercial Risk
United Group Ltd
Representing employees
Mr Dick Williams
State Secretary, Electrical Trades Union of Employees, Queensland
Ms Michelle Burgoyne
Electrical fitter and mechanic
Representing the community
Ms Cherie Dalley
President, Queensland Consumers Association
Councillor, Logan City Council
Mr Greg McNeill
Electrical Contractor
Member of the Mackay Regional Electricity Council
Membership of the board and three committees expired on 30 September 2005. Members for the new board were appointed for three years up to 30 September 2008. The only new member appointed to the board was Mr Bruce Lancaster.
Board activities
The Electrical Safety Board met seven times during the year.
The board established a working group to undertake a mid-term review of the Electrical Safety Plan for Queensland 2003-08. As a result of the review the board agreed that:
- the current Plan's priorities and strategies are still relevant
- priorities included: increasing the focus on 'workplaces'; increasing awareness among electricians and apprentices; greater focus on "don't do it yourself" for electrical work; using regulation to make enforcement easier; improving data collection and analysis; looking at overseas 'best practice'; and making better use of industry and government networks to promote electrical safety.
A number of other issues are being investigated. The report on the review of the plan is expected to be published later in 2006.
Three board nominees have been included on the judging panels for the Queensland 2006 Work Safe Awards. The awards aim to engage, inform, educate and promote workplaces, organisations, people and professionals who have demonstrated best practice in electrical safety achievements and initiatives. The board is investigating the feasibility of establishing an electrical safety award as part of the Work Safe Awards 2007.
The board has recommended amending electrical safety legislation to require signage to be displayed by suppliers of specified electrical equipment, which advises buyers that a licensed electrical contractor must install such equipment.
The board endorsed a submission to seek amendment to legislation relating to the assessment of overseas trained lineworkers. The Board considered that overseas trained lineworkers should be assessed against the 'National Electricity Supply Industry Protocol Document for Assessment of Overseas Lineworkers Seeking to Work in Australia' which was developed in 2005 by the National Training Advisory Group.
The board has established a working group to review registration, training and retraining of competent persons who perform inspection and testing of electrical equipment. Some of the points being discussed by the working group are: demonstration of competency; skills maintenance regime; punitive action against competent persons; and maintenance of a register. An assessment has been requested of the level of industry compliance with the inspection and testing regime.
On 3 June 2005 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed that a more responsive and flexible national apprenticeship, vocational education and training, and skills recognition system is vital to meeting both current and future skill needs. To address this issue COAG established priority occupation Action Groups, one of which is the Electricians, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Mechanics Action Group which is addressing means to improve mutual recognition of licensing. COAG has required that an action plan be finalised by 13 August 2006 with full implementation by 30 June 2007. The Electrical Safety Board has input into the process, ensuring that the Queensland position is presented through the Electrical Safety Office's representative on the group.
Committees
The Electrical Licensing Committee establishes and safeguards appropriate standards of performance for electrical services providers. The committee provides advice to the board about electrical licences and training and takes disciplinary action against holders of current electrical work and electrical contractor licences as well as previous holders of electrical contractor licences. It also reviews appeals against electrical licensing decisions of the chief executive.
The committee met 11 times during the year and held five disciplinary hearings (involving three electrical workers and two electrical contractors) as a result of non-compliant electrical work. Disciplinary action was implemented in all five of these cases.
The committee also considered 40 applications for review of licensing decisions where the chief executive considered the applications did not meet the eligibility criteria. These reviews related to 35 applications for restricted electrical work licences. One applicant for a restricted electrical work licence, where the committee confirmed the original decision to refuse his application, appealed the decision to the Industrial Court, where the matter was dismissed. This was the first occasion since the commencement of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 that a licensing decision was appealed to the Industrial Court.
A Queensland electrical contractor reported that he had applied to the Western Australian regulator for a contractor licence thinking the licence would be issued as a matter of course under Mutual Recognition, but he was required to undertake a mandatory 10 hour course before the licence was issued. The committee referred this matter to the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council through the Electrical Safety Office where Western Australia agreed to replace the course with a package specifically for out-of-state contractors.
The committee endorsed an additional application for course delivery for skills maintenance training for electrical worker licence renewal.
The committee has provided input into the development of an on-line public register for electrical workers and contractors, which will display disciplinary action taken against that licence holder. Timeframes and types of disciplinary action taken by the committee that will be published are:
Disciplinary action to be published |
Time published |
|---|---|
Licence cancelled |
Not removed |
Licence suspensions - not including suspensions deferred as the licence holder meets the conditions determined by the committee |
3 years |
Ordered to correct a fault or defect in electrical work (electrical contractor only) |
3 years |
Penalty units - more than 5 penalty units |
3 years |
The Electrical Safety Education Committee is responsible for the provision of advice and making recommendations to the board about the promotion of electrical safety in workplaces and in the broader community.
The committee met four times during the year and activities undertaken included:
- input into the development of an education and awareness campaign linked to the Electrical Safety Plan which included items such as: "Don't do you own electrical work", Safety Switch campaign, production of brochures about electrical safety relating to plumbers, the 'Look up and live' campaign targeting the construction and rural industry and educating school children on electrical safety matters
- a recommendation to the board that a legislative amendment be investigated to require signage to be displayed by suppliers of specified electrical equipment, which advises buyers that a licensed electrical contractor must install such equipment
- liaison with Energex and Ergon Energy to exchange ideas and to use a cooperative approach on promotion of electrical safety
- aAdvice on and formulation of a plan to promote the new Code of Practice Electrical Equipment - Rural Industry.
The Electrical Equipment Committee provides advice and makes recommendations to the board about the safety, energy efficiency and performance of electrical equipment.
The committee met four times during the year and, in accordance with the strategies of the Electrical Safety Plan, focused on identifying design problems associated with electrical equipment or appliances.
This involved:
- Monitoring and addressing problems revealed in field reported incidents relating to the safety of appliances and equipment.
- Mmonitoring product recalls associated with manufacturers recalling appliance and equipment with design problems.
- Investigating fires of electrical origin and recommending corrective action. An example included supplying reports to show evidence of motor capacitors in dishwashers being the cause of fire resulting in repeat advertising for recall of the product by the importer.
- Check testing of electrical goods at random to monitor compliance with standards.
- Aauditing outlets selling electrical items to determine compliance with requirements. This has included checking Internet sales which has resulted in several infringement notices being issued and recall of the offending products (which included unsafe sauna belts and power supplies).
- Recommending appropriate amendments to Australian Standards.
Last updated June 4, 2009
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