Supervision Practice Standard for licenced electricians supervising apprentices

The SPS was developed as an easy-to-understand document to clarify the legal obligations of employers, supervisors and apprentices while carrying out electrical wiring work.

The SPS aims to ensure that all parties carry out work in a safe and compliant manner. This includes the appropriate levels of supervision required for particular tasks, the appropriate supervisor to apprentice ratios and any other obligations.

New or inexperienced workers such as apprentices need to be guided on how to complete work in a safe and compliant manner.

Any person, company or organisation acting as an employer of electrical apprentices must follow the SPS.

Licenced electricians must follow the SPS as a condition of their licence in their role as a supervisor of apprentices when performing electrical work.

Apprentices also need to follow the SPS and must ensure that they do not work beyond the scope of the tasks and supervision requirements set out in the SPS.

Currently, the SPS acts as a guidance document to the industry - it is not mandatory. Supervisors and apprentices cannot be fined where they do not follow the practice standards.

However, the NSW Government intends that the SPS will be made mandatory in September 2024. The Government wants to ensure that electricians and the broader building industry have time to get used to the obligations imposed by the SPS.

That is why the SPS has been released now as a guidance document. Licenced electricians, building companies and employers of electrical apprentices are encouraged to begin implementing the supervision practices detailed in the SPS.

At the present time, no, as the SPS has been released as a best practice guideline only.

However, when the SPS is mandated through building legislation in September 2024, compliance with the SPS will be a condition of holding an electrical licence.

Failing to comply with the SPS will attract disciplinary action such as fines and penalties, or cancellation or suspension of your electrical licence, or both.

No, the SPS does not replace any obligations under any legislation, including the WHS legislation.

Employers or workers, including licence holders or supervisors, have additional work health and safety duties to take reasonable care to ensure the health and safety of other persons.

Electrical licence holders who supervise apprentices have concurrent obligations under work health and safety legislation and this practice standard.

At the time work is allocated to an apprentice, supervisors must determine the appropriate level of supervision for the apprentice when carrying out tasks as specified in the SPS.

A supervisor must also ensure work is being carried out safely in accordance with procedures provided by the employer or person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) responsible for the worksite.

The supervisor must ensure all work health and safety obligations are followed and explained to the apprentice.

The employer has a duty to maintain a safe working environment for those they employ by providing information and training, safe work procedures, safety equipment, effective supervision, and appropriate risk and complaint management mechanisms.

Employers have an obligation to ensure that an apprentice has the necessary support and supervision by qualified, licenced and experienced electricians with relevant skills who are committed to training them. Apprentices must not be supervised by other apprentices or persons on the job site, except as allowed under the SPS.

An employer must take all reasonable steps to ensure an apprentice receives the work-based component of their required training, in particular by providing all necessary facilities and opportunities to acquire the skills and knowledge they need.

Once the SPS is mandated, an employer will be committing an offence if they instruct an apprentice to do a task without the appropriate level of supervision or where the supervisor has not assessed them as being competent to do the task.

The SPS provides different levels of supervision – Direct, General and Broad.

A prescriptive table on the SPS document is available, detailing the minimum levels of supervision depending on the apprentice's experiences and task performed.

No, the SPS is a settled document that has been developed after extensive consultation with peak industry bodies.

The SPS is being released now as a guidance document to allow industry time to read and understand the SPS and to allow businesses to make any adaptations necessary to be able to comply with the obligations put on supervisors.

As a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), you must continue to abide by all obligations under the WHS legislation. The SPS does not diminish or override your WHS obligations as a PCBU.

In their day-to-day learning and work on the job, electrical apprentices must be supervised by an electrical licence holder who is qualified and capable of the tasks assigned to the apprentice. Therefore, a builder or contractor who does not hold an electrical licence has a responsibility under the SPS to ensure there is a licenced electrician on site to supervise the electrical apprentices on the worksite in accordance with the Standard.