SafeWork NSW Inspectors are focused on an electrical compliance operation to increase the safety and awareness of electrical hazards on worksites.
Contact with overhead and underground powerlines, unsafe or non-compliant wiring, and faulty or damaged equipment continue to seriously harm workers.
- Tragically a 35-year-old man was killed in Earlwood last year when he handled energised wires while completing work on an electrical circuit beneath a house.
- A 24-year-old man also recently suffered serious burns when he touched a live electrical circuit and caused an arc flash explosion at a construction site in Sydney’s northwest.
Test & Tag is required for all electrical equipment every 3 months.
Between June 2020 and October 2021, compensation claims show contact with electricity resulted in two fatalities, 569 serious injuries, and more than 400 dangerous incidents.
Five additional penalties for things such as failing to conduct a risk assessment or follow overhead/underground power line controls have recently been introduced. These breaches attract on-the-spot fines of up to $3,600 for businesses and $720 for individuals
On-site electrical work should only ever be conducted by a licensed person and if they are young or inexperienced, they always need to be supervised.