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Office of Fair and Safe Work Queensland
Department of Justice and Attorney-General
Home > Electrical Safety > Law and penalties > Code of Practice Electrical Equipment - Rural Industry > Introduction

Introduction

Important note
Important dates
What is a code of practice?
Meaning of rural industry work
What does this code of practice apply to?
Obligations under the Electrical Safety Act 2002
Defences for failing to meet your electrical safety obligation
Who has obligations under the Electrical Safety Act 2002
Obligation offence provision under section 27 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002
Flow chart - What are you required to do?

Important note

Throughout this code, there are several specific terms with which you should be familiar, and they are defined in the dictionary. These terms are identified in bold and italics where they first appear in this code.

Important dates

This code of practice:

The Queensland Electrical Safety Act 2002 (PDF, 788 KB) (the Act) is directed at eliminating the human cost to individuals, families and the community of death, injury and destruction that can be caused by electricity.

The Act and its subordinate legislation, the Electrical Safety Regulation 2002 (PDF, 1 MB) (the Regulation), set out the obligations that employers, employees, workers, designers, manufacturers, importers and persons in control of electrical equipment must meet in order to comply with the requirements of the law.

The fundamental principle of the legislation is to set requirements in law to ensure that electrical installations, including workplaces and homes, are free from electrical risk. This means that for a person or property, the electrical risk is as low as can be reasonably achieved having regard to the likelihood of harm and the likely severity of harm.

What is a code of practice?

A code of practice is a document made under the Act. It gives practical advice on a way of discharging a person's electrical safety obligation. Included in a code are ways to identify and manage exposure to risks of injury and property damage caused directly or indirectly by electricity.

The Code of Practice - Electrical Equipment in Rural Industry gives practical advice about how to manage electrical risk in rural industry work. Included in the code are relevant provisions of the Act and Regulation that must be complied with. Where wording in the code says a measure must be used, the measure is a regulatory provision. Where the code advises that a measure should be used, this means that it is a way of meeting an obligation under the Act. You must either follow the code or use another way that is at least as effective as the code.

This code of practice should be used by employers and self-employed persons whose business or undertaking includes rural industry work, to ensure that their electrical safety obligations are met.

Meaning of rural industry work

Rural industry work is work:

Rural industry work includes work that is construction work, manufacturing work or office work performed for the purposes of an activity mentioned above if the work is:

Examples of construction work or manufacturing work-

Rural industry work does not include work to which rural industry work is only incidental.

Examples—

Because rural industry work does not include other commercial activities such as manufacturing or tourism that might be associated with a rural industry business, you will need to ensure that the relevant regulatory requirements for such other activities under the Act are complied with.

In addition, the Regulation for rural industry work and this code do not alter any other regulatory requirements under the Act for electrical work. For example, a person performing licensed electrical work in a rural industry must hold a relevant electrical work licence and comply with other provisions for safe electrical work.

The code provides for the following ways of managing electrical safety obligations:

What does this code of practice apply to?

This code of practice applies to plug-in and fixed electrical equipment used in rural industry work, for example:

Obligations under the Electrical Safety Act 2002

The Act imposes obligations on persons who may affect the electrical safety of others by their acts or omissions.

For example, employers have an obligation to ensure their business or undertaking is conducted in a way that is electrically safe. This includes identifying electrical hazards, assessing the risk of injury or property damage that may be attributed to hazards, and taking necessary actions to minimise risk exposure.

How can you meet your obligations for electrical safety?

Under the Act, there are three ways obligation holders, including employers and self-employed persons whose business or undertaking includes rural industry work, can meet their obligation for electrical safety. These ways are through regulations, ministerial notices, or codes of practice. Where applicable, obligation holders must comply in the following manner to discharge obligations:

Defences for failing to meet your electrical safety obligation

If charged with a breach of obligation, you can provide a valid defence by establishing that the offence was due to causes beyond your control. In this instance, you cannot claim as a defence those sections of the Criminal Code relating to an accidental act or omission, or a mistaken belief.

Where there is no regulation, ministerial notice or code of practice advising how to meet your electrical safety obligation under the circumstances, you should be able to demonstrate that you chose an appropriate way, took reasonable precautions and exercised proper diligence to discharge the safety obligation.

Who has obligations under the Electrical Safety Act 2002?

The Act imposes obligations for electrical safety on a number of persons, as follows:

A person may owe electrical safety obligations in more than one capacity. Typically, a person who conducts a business or undertaking that includes rural industry work will have electrical safety obligations as an employer or self-employed person, and as a person in control of electrical equipment. Further, if you imported specialist electrical equipment for rural industry work, you would also have an obligation as an importer of electrical equipment.

If a person had the obligations mentioned above, this would mean that their obligations, without limitation would include:

As indicated above, other people can have electrical safety obligations. For example, a worker at a place where electrical equipment is located has the following obligations:

Obligation offence provision under section 27 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002

A person on whom an electrical safety obligation is imposed must discharge the obligation.

Maximum penalty—

A penalty unit has a dollar value determined by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General. At the date of publication, the value of a penalty unit was $100. Under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, if a corporation is found guilty of an offence, the Court may impose a maximum fine of an amount equal to 5 times the maximum fine for an individual.

Flow chart - What are you required to do?

Flow chart - What are you required to do?

Last updated July 16, 2009