Protecting electrical apprentices – what you can do now

Did you know all electrical apprentices must be competent in testing a full installation at the point of becoming a tradesperson and becoming eligible for a licence? To achieve this, an apprentice needs to be involved in the testing and verification process early.

Employers, mentors, and supervisors of electrical apprentices have the important task of influencing safe and life-long testing habits for their apprentices. As an employer, you must ensure apprentices with less than six months training do not work in the immediate vicinity of high voltage exposed parts, or if there’s a risk they could encounter live low-voltage exposed parts (including testing and verification).

Electrical apprentices must be supervised at all times during their apprenticeship. Supervision can be direct, general or broad. Live testing by an electrical apprentice should always be carried out under direct supervision.

Further information

For more information please see the Supervising Electrical Apprentices guide.

Encourage your electrical apprentices to subscribe to eNEWS and they’ll get access to the apprentice edition. If you have any topics from an employer’s perspective that you’d like to see featured in the edition, email eso-events@oir.qld.gov.au.