Health and safety paperwork for electrical contractors

The hazards that actually matter

Every trade has a long list and a short one. The short one is what the task documents have to deal with properly, because it is where the serious harm comes from.

Electric shock

Contact with a live conductor, through a tool, a ladder, a cable strike or a circuit someone else re-energised. Isolation, lock-out, tag-out and test before touch, in that order, every time.

Arc flash

A fault at a switchboard releases energy as heat and pressure. The protection is distance and avoiding live work, not the clothing, though the clothing matters when the first two fail.

Working live

Live work should be the exception with a specific justification, a second person present and a defined method. A document that treats it as routine is the problem rather than the record of it.

Work at height

Lighting, cable tray and ceiling work, usually from ladders or platforms in spaces not designed for it.

Asbestos in older installations

Switchboard backing panels, flash guards and cable penetrations in pre-2000 buildings.

Confined spaces and ceiling voids

Restricted access, heat, limited ventilation and no easy rescue route.

Other trades re-energising

The control that fails most often is not yours. Lock-out with your own lock, and verify rather than rely on the board being labelled.

What applies beyond the general duties

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016 apply to every business. These sit on top of them for this trade:

• Electricity Act 1992 and the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010
• AS/NZS 3000, the Wiring Rules, and AS/NZS 4836 for safe working on low voltage electrical installations
• Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016 for pre-2000 installations

Competence and licensing

Prescribed electrical work must be done by a person registered with the Electrical Workers Registration Board holding a current practising licence in the right class, or by a trainee under supervision. A Certificate of Compliance is required for prescribed electrical work, and high-risk prescribed electrical work additionally requires an Electrical Safety Certificate.

Notifying WorkSafe

Reg 26 notification rarely applies to electrical work itself, but an electric shock to a person is a notifiable event and must be reported to WorkSafe as soon as possible. The full list and its exclusions are in notifiable work: the 10 categories.

What a main contractor will ask you for

• Your EWRB registration and practising licence class
• Certificates of Compliance, and Electrical Safety Certificates where required
• A Task Analysis for isolation and lock-out, for any live work and for work at height
• Your isolation permit and how it interacts with the site's
• Asbestos identification for pre-2000 switchboards and penetrations

A document per task, not one for the job. The crew doing one task should not have to read past three others to find their controls, and a site manager checking one task should not have to either.

Where to start

If you are writing from scratch, how to write a Task Analysis sets out the order. If you have been asked for something and are not sure which document it is, which document do you need covers the difference between a site plan and a task document. Our prepared documents for this trade are the Electrical Task Analysis Pack, or single documents from the catalogue.

Sources

• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, s22 (reasonably practicable), s34 and s36
• Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016, regs 5 to 8
• Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, reg 26 (particular hazardous work requiring notice)
• Electricity Act 1992 and the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010
• AS/NZS 3000, the Wiring Rules, and AS/NZS 4836 for safe working on low voltage electrical installations
• Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016 for pre-2000 installations
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Identifying, assessing and managing work risks

This guide is general information about New Zealand health and safety law as at the review date. It is not legal advice and it does not describe your site. Confirm what applies to you with WorkSafe New Zealand or your adviser.