Dris proposal for national licensing of the electrical occupations

Attachment D – Current licensing arrangements

Regulatory framework

The occupational licensing of electrical workers is undertaken by a variety of agencies across the states and territories. In New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, the licensing of electrical workers rests with generic regulators, who have responsibility for licensing a number of different occupations. In Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, occupational licensing is undertaken by separate boards or regulators focused on energy safety.

Table D.1 shows the agency responsible for the licensing of electrical occupations in each state and territory.

Table D.1: State and territory regulators of electrical occupations

Jurisdiction	Regulator
NSW	NSW Fair Trading (Department of Finance and Services)
Vic	Energy Safe Victoria
Qld	Electrical Safety Office (Department of Justice & Attorney-General)
WA	EnergySafety Division (Department of Commerce)
SA	Consumer and Business Services Division of the Attorney-General’s Department
Tas	Workplace Standards (Department of Justice)
ACT	Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate
NT	Department of Lands Planning and the Environment

Overview of current licensing and eligibility requirements

In broad terms, there are three different types of electrical licences currently issued by the states and territories:

• 
  Electrical workers’ licences are occupational licences issued to people with the necessary qualifications or skills to undertake the prescribed electrical work.
  
• 
  Electrical contractors’ licences are issued to licensed individuals, partnerships or corporations who wish to enter into trade contracts for electrical services with the public, other businesses, the government or any other entity. The applicant(s) must meet personal and financial probity requirements and, in the case of corporations or partnerships, there must be a licensed technical nominee.
  
• 
  Disconnect and reconnect restricted licences are issued to non-electricians, primarily to enable the disconnection and reconnection of equipment attached to fixed electrical wiring and, in some cases, to undertake limited fault finding on this equipment where they have undergone sufficient electrical and safety training to undertake these functions safely.
  

Apprentices, trainees and supervised employees are required to be registered in some jurisdictions. Licence terms range from one year to five years across jurisdictions. Current licensing of electrical work may be characterised as covering six main areas, which are considered below:

Electricians

Electricians are currently licensed in all jurisdictions, and there is a consistent approach to the licensing of electricians to do work associated with electrical installation mainly relating to wiring work. The consistent approach is the result of cooperative work undertaken by the National Uniform Electrical Licensing Advisory Council. This work has culminated in all jurisdictions agreeing to a uniform set of qualification requirements for licensed electricians based on 66 essential capabilities and a capstone assessment. The adoption of a single title, ‘electrician’, has been adopted in some jurisdictions to replace the previous titles ‘electrical mechanic’ and ‘electrical mechanic/fitter’. Table D.2 lists the current titles used in each state and territory for an electrician.

Electrical fitters

Electrical fitters are licensed in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. South Australia regulates this scope of work under a general electrician’s licence (other than registrations granted under the mutual recognition principles). New South Wales and Tasmania regulate through a restricted licence or under an electricity safety management scheme. The Australian Capital Territory does not issue a licence and any work outside the boundary of the electricity utility and within the scope of electrical work must be undertaken by an unrestricted electrician. Table D.3 shows the current licensing arrangements for electrical fitters.

Lineworkers and cable jointers

Lineworkers and cable jointers are not licensed in all jurisdictions. The approach taken to the licensing of electrical network personnel (lineworkers and cable jointers) varies across jurisdictions. Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have clearly identifiable licences for lineworkers and cable jointers, while South Australia regulates this scope of work under a general electrician’s licence, as well as separate categories. New South Wales and Western Australia operate an accreditation scheme whereby workers employed by a network operator are required to fulfil an employer’s qualification requirements, and are not licensed. Victoria has a non-mandatory system of registration for lineworkers. In the Australian Capital Territory, all electrical work outside the boundary of the licensed electricity utility must be undertaken by a licensed electrician. Table D.4 and Table D.5 show the current licensing arrangements for lineworkers and cable jointers, respectively.

Electrical contractors

Electrical contractors are licensed in all jurisdictions, but there are different approaches to regulation. For example, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory do not require any business training for licensing purposes, whereas other jurisdictions require between one and four units of competency. In South Australia, a body corporate contractor is not required to identify a technical nominee.

Restricted electrical licences (RELs)

While all jurisdictions have restricted electrical licence categories for the disconnection and reconnection of fixed equipment, the subcategories used vary between jurisdictions. See Table D.6 for a full list of the subcategories.

Provisional licences

All jurisdictions currently have some form of provisional licence or permit.