Issue 134 September - October 2019

The way electrical workers become licensed could change if an initiative launched by the EWRB comes to fruition. The registration board is now considering the introduction of what it calls ‘stepped licensing’ and has been promoting the concept in Meet and Greet sessions with members of the industry.

Attendees at a recent session came away confused as to what the Board was trying to achieve, so ElectroLink asked MBIE, the Ministry responsible for running the EWRB, to put forward someone who was competent to discuss the proposal.

MBIE was unable to do that, but a spokeswoman advised in writing that the concept of a ‘stepped licensing framework’ emerged following the engagement of MBIE staff and electrical worker representatives from across the country.

She said that feedback was received on how “qualified electrical workers and trainees find it hard to understand what training needs to be done to move between licence classes”.

She did not provide any data on the number of registered people that want to switch careers by gaining registration in any of the other 16 classes, but she did confirm that the aim of the stepped framework “was to provide people in the industry with a clear career progression pathway”.

During the recent investigation of an arc flash incident in Invercargill, WorkSafe went public with its view that the electrical industry needs tidying up. But rather than doing this by prosecution after an event, the interests of public and worker safety could be better addressed by WorkSafe by getting the ongoing development of the Electricity Safety Regulations back on track.

Since WorkSafe was created in 2015 and the electrical regulator, Energy Safety, was folded into it, the development of electrical regulation has ceased in much the same way as coal mine inspections ceased when WorkSafe’s predecessor, the Labour Department, did not appoint an electrical inspector of mines when it took over the mining electrical inspectorate from the Energy Safety Service.

It has been six years since the last regulatory refinements to the 2010 Regulations were put in place and the significant changes in the architecture of these regulations have yet to be completed. The improvements needed are not just regulating the management of emerging risks from new technology, but also clarifying safety processes like testing, inspecting, certifying and supervising which all became prescribed electrical work (PEW) in 2010 when they are applied to installing, connecting and maintaining fittings and conductors, and connecting them to a power supply.