WA updates safety guidelines for electrical workers and apprentices

The Western Australian safety regulator, Building and Energy, has updated its safety guidelines for electrical workers and apprentices.

Its new safety publication has amalgamated two previous guides: ‘Safe working guidelines for electrical workers’; and ‘Safe working guidelines and assessment for electrical apprentices’.

The new publication is titled ‘Safe working guidelines for electrical workers and apprentices’. It will act as a central reference source, providing advice on:

• Achieving and maintaining safe work practices, for the benefit of the individual worker and for the benefit of others.
• Effective supervision of licensed electrical workers with varying competencies.
• Responsibilities of employers and electrical apprentices to ensure apprentices have sufficient basic trade safety knowledge prior to being granted an electrician’s training licence. Safe working practices and procedures are an integral part of the electrical trade and must be the first skills learned.
   

Key updates include employer responsibilities for supervising workers and apprentices; a limit to the number of apprentices that can be supervised at any time; and supervision requirements for provisional licence holders.

To download the guidelines, click here.

Image credit: iStock.com/LOUISE BEAUMONT