Protect electrical safety standards and licensing

Email the NSW Minister for Building, Anoulack Chanthivong, and NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, and Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis about the dangerous changes proposed by the NSW Building Commission that will water down electrical licensing and safety standards in NSW.

As an electrical worker in NSW, your voice is key on this matter, and your safety and trade depend on it.

These proposed changes to the Home Building Act will:

undermine the safety of electrical workers and the general public
attack employment conditions
exacerbate long-term economy-wide electrical skills shortages
lower the standard of electrical work performed in NSW
fragment the skills of licensed electrical workers

Please help protect the integrity of the electrical licence and safety standards by sending an email to the NSW Government about the risks in the Building Commission's plan.

(All pre-filled, except your email address, name and postcode)

Email the NSW Minister for Building, Anoulack Chanthivong, and NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, and Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis about the dangerous changes proposed by the NSW Building Commission that will water down electrical licensing and safety standards in NSW.

As an electrical worker in NSW, your voice is key on this matter, and your safety and trade depend on it.

These proposed changes to the Home Building Act will:

undermine the safety of electrical workers and the general public
attack employment conditions
exacerbate long-term economy-wide electrical skills shortages
lower the standard of electrical work performed in NSW
fragment the skills of licensed electrical workers

Please help protect the integrity of the electrical licence and safety standards by sending an email to the NSW Government about the risks in the Building Commission's plan.

(All pre-filled, except your email address, name and postcode)

Ask the NSW Government to protect electrical licensing and safety standards

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Att: 
The Hon Sophie Cotsis MP
The Hon Anoulack Chanthivong MP

Dear Minister,

The NSW Building Commission is currently proposing a suite of changes to building industry regulations as part of the Home Building Act Review that will undermine the safety of electrical workers and the general public, attack employment conditions, exacerbate long-term, economy-wide electrical skills shortages, and lower the standard of electrical work performed in NSW. As a licensed electrician in NSW, I have serious concerns about the implications of these proposed changes on my safety and hard-won working conditions, and the safety of my community.

Proposed draft licensing regulations chip away at the integrity of the electrical licensing framework in NSW in a short-sighted attempt to lower labour costs for businesses and work around historic skills shortages without training apprentices. It does this by carving out core functions of an electrical worker as “electrical support work” with this proposed work being  done by any unlicensed worker, as well as introducing new restricted license classes that allow non-electricians to carry out electrical work on fixed appliances.

My profession is a highly dangerous one, requiring key skills and experience that ensure that I can work safely with electricity. There is little room for error in my work, and a mistake could be a fatal one, not just for myself, but for anyone along the supply chain from product manufacturing to installers, electrical maintenance workers, power line workers, through to consumers and the general public. It is only through careful regulation and licensing standards that we can ensure the next time we go to work with electricity, we know that we, and our fellow workers are adhering to the same standards, and have the same minimum level of training.

My union, the Electrical Trades Union NSW/ACT, has engaged with the NSW Building Commission for the last 12 months highlighting issues with these proposed changes, but it has fallen on deaf ears, The ETU has made two submissions, and is now making a third. It is unacceptable that this feedback, representing 16,000 electrical workers in NSW and ACT is being ignored.

These are the key points in the submissions:

Electrical Support Work
Laying and cutting cable, installing cable support systems, and fixing electrical equipment in place are all central parts of the day-to-day workload of an electrician. Electricians are trained extensively in how to do these tasks safely, reliably, and in compliance with strict electrical and industry standards. The Commission has provided little substantial reasoning for why deregulating these tasks is necessary, other than the fact that they are labour intensive and less likely to directly kill an untrained worker if performed correctly.

These changes trade safety simply for employers to save a few dollars and create a lower paid, less secure, and less skilled workforce that can be more easily exploited. Creating this loophole won’t address the electrical skills crisis facing NSW in the long-term, instead it provides an excuse for employers to reduce the employment of electricians and train even fewer apprentices than the already substandard status quo.

The same bad-faith employers who already misuse electrical trades assistants for cheap unlicensed electrical work can be expected to exploit this new definition and push the boundaries of what is permitted. Some employers will inevitably mislead, pressure, or otherwise encourage unlicensed workers to work beyond the scope of support work. This will put myself and my co-workers, as well as everyday consumers in danger.

Fixed Appliance Licenses
Fixed appliances have the same electrical safety risks as other types of electrical work and should only be worked on by a licensed electrician. I don’t accept that repair and maintenance work on an electrical appliance requires a fundamentally different skillset to that of an electrician. The proposed ‘fixed appliance license’ will impact safety standards, and will mean fewer potential sources of new apprentices, with maintenance work on fixed appliances instead being done by a small group of narrowly trained workers who will lack the transferable skills to contribute elsewhere in the economy as needed.

I am especially concerned at the proposed inclusion of medical equipment in the definition of fixed appliances. The proposed fixed appliance restricted electrical license classes would allow technicians to conduct electrical work in hospitals with a watered-down qualification. Hospital patients and healthcare workers who interact with medical equipment could then be exposed to increased electrical safety risks. Guaranteeing the reliability and quality of care for our most vulnerable is more important than saving a few dollars on labour and training costs.

I ask that you take all necessary steps to see that the Building Commission takes the feedback of the Electrical Trades Union, representing over 16,000 electrical workers in the state, seriously. The Commission must not continue with these attacks on our electrical license. The NSW Labor Government recently promised to embark on a review of electrical safety regulations to strengthen our licensing scheme and improve industry oversight. In their current form, the licensing regulatory reforms being developed by the Commission would serve to break that promise.

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