Electrical Safety Act 2002

The Act affects a broad range of persons:

Electricity entities have a direct duty under section 29 to ensure their works are electrically safe and are operated in a way that is electrically safe, including through inspection, testing, and maintenance.

PCBUs have the primary workplace duty under section 30. This duty extends to ensuring all electrical equipment used in the business is electrically safe and that persons performing work near exposed electrical parts are electrically safe.

Officers of PCBUs must exercise due diligence under section 38A to ensure the PCBU complies with its electrical safety duties. The officer duty is personal and is not discharged by compliance by the PCBU itself.

Workers must take reasonable care for their own electrical safety and the safety of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions, and must comply with any reasonable instructions from their employer relating to electrical safety.

Designers, manufacturers, importers, and suppliers of electrical equipment have separate chain-of-supply duties under sections 31 to 35 to ensure the equipment is designed and manufactured to be electrically safe, and to provide safety information.

Licensed electricians and electrical contractors are individually subject to licence requirements, licence conditions, and disciplinary action. Section 55 requires any person who performs or supervises electrical work to hold an electrical work licence in force under the Act. Section 56 requires any person who conducts a business that includes the performance of electrical work to hold an electrical contractor licence.

Consumers are protected by the consumer protection provisions in Part 3 (directives to rectify unsatisfactory work) and the enforcement notice framework in Part 11A.

Electrical work licences (section 55): A person must not perform or supervise electrical work unless they hold a current electrical work licence authorising the work. Exceptions include telecommunications cabling, licensed electrical engineers practising their profession, remote rural installation work, apprentices, trainees, and students in supervised training. The maximum penalty for unlicensed electrical work is 400 penalty units.

Electrical contractor licences (section 56): A person must not conduct a business that includes the performance of electrical work unless they hold a current electrical contractor licence. Exceptions include licensed electrical mechanics doing minor emergency repairs or work on their own or a relative's premises. The maximum penalty is 400 penalty units.

Worker register (section 57AB): A PCBU that engages others to perform or supervise electrical work must keep a register of licensed workers, including prescribed details for each licensed worker while engaged and for at least five years after they cease to be engaged. The register must be available for immediate inspection by an inspector. The register must be updated within seven days of a change notification from a worker.

Reporting serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (section 164 area, Part 11 Division 4): Electricity entities, PCBUs, and persons managing workplaces where a serious electrical incident or dangerous electrical event occurs must notify the regulator as soon as practicable and preserve the incident site.

Safety management systems (Part 5): Certain electricity entities are required to have safety management systems approved by the regulator. The safety management system must address how the entity will manage electrical safety risks arising from its operations.

Officer due diligence (section 38A): Officers of PCBUs must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its duties. Due diligence includes acquiring and keeping up-to-date knowledge of electrical safety matters, understanding the nature of the business's operations and the hazards and risks associated with those operations, ensuring the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks, verifying that those resources and processes are being used, and taking corrective action when non-compliance comes to the officer's attention.

Inspectors (Part 10 Division 2): The regulator may appoint inspectors who have broad powers to enter workplaces, inspect and seize equipment and documents, require the production of records, take samples, and conduct tests. Entry to residential premises without consent requires a warrant.

Enforcement notices (Part 11A): Inspectors and the regulator can issue:

• Improvement notices (Division 1): requiring a PCBU to remedy a contravention or a likely contravention within a stated time.
• Electrical safety protection notices (Division 2): directing a person to stop or restrict an activity that poses an electrical safety risk.
• Unsafe equipment notices (Division 3): preventing the supply or use of electrical equipment that is not electrically safe.
• Non-disturbance notices (Division 4): preserving a scene for investigation purposes.
• Remedial action (Division 6): the regulator may take action to remedy an electrical safety risk at the relevant person's expense if that person fails to comply with an enforcement notice.

Injunctions (Part 11A Division 7): The regulator may apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction to restrain a person from contravening the Act.

Commissioner for Electrical Safety (Part 6): The Commissioner advises the Minister on electrical safety matters and manages the Electrical Safety Board. The Commissioner may issue codes of practice that are admissible in proceedings as evidence of what is known about an electrical hazard and ways to manage risk.

Regulator's product safety powers (Part 2A): The regulator may prohibit the sale or supply of in-scope electrical equipment that does not comply with the national safety system, require product notifications, and issue recall orders.

Disciplinary action (Part 9): The licensing authority may suspend, cancel, or impose conditions on electrical work licences and electrical contractor licences for grounds including serious incompetence, misconduct, non-compliance with the Act, or financial failure.

The Act contains a graduated penalty structure:

Industrial manslaughter (sections 48N and 48O): The most serious offences. A PCBU or senior officer of a PCBU whose negligent conduct substantially contributes to the death of a worker faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment (for an individual) or 100,000 penalty units (for a body corporate). These are crimes, not regulatory offences. Volunteers are exempt. The Criminal Code, section 23 (accident defence) is expressly excluded from application to these offences.

Category 1 offences: Reckless endangerment of the electrical safety of others. Maximum 1,500 penalty units for an individual and 6,000 penalty units for a body corporate.

Category 2 offences: Failure to comply with a duty under the Act where that failure exposes a person to a risk of death or serious injury. Maximum 500 penalty units for an individual and 2,500 penalty units for a body corporate.

Category 3 offences: Other contraventions of the Act. Maximum 100 penalty units for an individual and 500 penalty units for a body corporate.

Unlicensed work (sections 55 and 56): Performance of electrical work without a licence, or conducting an electrical contracting business without a licence: 400 penalty units.

Worker register failure (section 57AB): Failure to keep, update, or produce the licensed worker register: 100 penalty units.

Penalty notices (Schedule 3): Designated minor offences may be dealt with by on-the-spot penalty notices of specified amounts, allowing resolution without prosecution.

Licence applications: Electrical work licences and electrical contractor licences are applied for through the licensing authority, which must assess applications against prescribed eligibility criteria. Decisions are subject to internal and external review.

Review of decisions (Part 12): Decisions of the regulator and licensing authority are subject to internal review (Part 12 Division 2) and then to external review in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) (Part 12 Division 3).

Improvement notices: Must state a compliance period that is reasonable in all the circumstances.

Non-disturbance notices: Have effect for no more than seven days from issue, though they may be extended on application.

Industrial manslaughter proceedings: These are criminal proceedings, not regulatory proceedings, and are dealt with in the Supreme Court.

Electrical Safety Regulation 2013 (Qld): The principal subordinate regulation under this Act, which prescribes detailed technical standards, prescribed forms, and specific requirements across all Parts of the Act.

Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): The Act shares concepts (PCBU, officer, reasonably practicable) with the WHS Act but operates as a standalone regime for electrical safety. There is no formal hierarchy between the two Acts; both may apply to the same conduct.

Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) and Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld): Part 2 (duties), Part 3 (consumer protection), and Part 4 contractor licensing do not apply at mines (section 6). Electrical safety at mines is governed by those sector-specific Acts.

Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (Qld): Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 contractor licensing do not apply at petroleum plant or GHG storage plant (section 6).

Electricity Act 1994 (Qld): Electricity entities are authorised under the Electricity Act. The Electrical Safety Act 2002 imposes safety obligations on those entities but does not authorise their activities as electricity businesses.

National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth) and Australian Standards: Technical standards for electrical equipment are incorporated by reference through codes of practice and ministerial notices under this Act. The national in-scope electrical equipment safety system (Part 2A) aligns with the federal product safety framework.

Criminal Code (Qld): Section 23 (accident) of the Criminal Code is expressly excluded from application to industrial manslaughter offences under sections 48N and 48O (section 48M(3)).

Mines exclusion is more limited than it appears: Section 6 excludes Part 2 (duties), Part 3 (consumer protection), and Part 4 contractor licensing from application at mines. But regulations under the Electrical Safety Act still apply at mines to the extent they are made other than for the purposes of those excluded provisions. This creates a nuanced patchwork where parts of the regulatory framework continue to apply even at mine sites.

The industrial manslaughter offence applies to senior officers personally: Section 48O makes senior officers of PCBUs personally liable for industrial manslaughter if their own conduct is negligent and substantially contributes to a worker's death. The officer's liability is independent of the PCBU's liability under section 48N. A senior officer cannot avoid liability simply because the PCBU entity has also been charged.

Due diligence for officers is proactive: Section 38A does not allow officers to sit back and rely on management reports. The due diligence obligation includes acquiring and keeping current knowledge of electrical safety, verifying that the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes, and verifying that those resources and processes are actually being used.

Unlicensed electrical work by owner-occupiers: Section 55(3) contains specific exemptions, but self-performed electrical work by owner-occupiers is not among them (unlike in some other Australian states). An unlicensed owner who does their own electrical wiring is potentially in contravention of section 55.

In-scope electrical equipment carries a national certification burden: Part 2A requires suppliers of in-scope electrical equipment to ensure it is registered on the national register, carries the required compliance mark, and meets conformity assessment requirements. Selling non-compliant in-scope equipment at retail or wholesale triggers liability under Part 2A as well as the general duty provisions.

Consumer protection directives (Part 3): If an electrical contractor fails to properly perform and complete contracted work, the customer may apply for a directive ordering the contractor to complete, rectify, or refund. This is a specific consumer remedy under the Act, separate from contract law.

Example 1: Unlicensed employee performing electrical work A Queensland builder employs an unlicensed person to install powerpoints in a new house. The builder (as a PCBU) contravenes section 57AA (ensuring workers are licensed), maximum penalty 400 penalty units. The unlicensed worker contravenes section 55, maximum penalty 400 penalty units. The builder must also maintain a register of licensed workers under section 57AB.

Example 2: Industrial manslaughter of an electrical worker A PCBU installs electrical switchboards in a commercial building. The site manager (a senior officer) is aware of a known fault in a distribution board but does not direct workers to isolate it before proceeding. An electrician receives a fatal shock. If the PCBU's conduct (acting through the site manager) substantially contributed to the death and the PCBU was negligent about causing the death, the PCBU faces a maximum of 100,000 penalty units under section 48N. The site manager personally faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment under section 48O. The Criminal Code accident defence is not available.

Example 3: Enforcement notice for unsafe equipment An inspector attends a retail store and finds that non-compliant in-scope electrical extension cords are being offered for sale without the required compliance mark. The inspector may issue an unsafe equipment notice under Part 11A Division 3 prohibiting the supply of those cords. The notice directs the retailer to remove the equipment from sale. Failure to comply is an offence. The regulator may also apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction under Part 11A Division 7.

Example 4: Officer due diligence failure A director of an electrical contracting company is found to have been aware that workers were regularly bypassing lockout procedures before working on live equipment. The director never raised the issue at board level or directed it to be remedied. If a worker is subsequently injured, the director may be prosecuted under section 38A for failure to exercise due diligence. The duty is not limited to acting after an incident; it requires proactive action when the director becomes aware of a risk.