Unsupervised trainee electrician Bradley Carl Payne has been fined $10,000 by the New Plymouth District Court for unauthorised electrical work and leaving exposed live wire that could have caused a fatality.

In March 2022, Mr Payne entered into an agreement to deliver a shipping container to a residential property in south Taranaki and provide a Certificate of Compliance after completing electrical work on the container. The electrical work on the container involved installing and connecting conductors and fittings to power supply, all of which are prescribed electrical work under the Electricity Act 1992 and Electricity Safety (Regulations) 2010.

Mr Payne carried out the work unsupervised, which was a breach of the Electricity Act 1992.

Judge T Greig found Mr Payne guilty of two charges of doing unauthorised prescribed electrical work and one charge of negligently doing work in a manner dangerous to life. Besides the penalty, Mr Payne has been ordered to pay solicitor and court costs. The judge ordered 90 percent of the penalty to be paid to the Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB).

One of the main functions of the Board is to register electrical workers and ensure competency of those workers to support safe and compliant prescribed electrical work, says Duncan Connor, Registrar of Electrical Workers.

The property owner received an electric shock from live wire that were left exposed on a kitchen bench inside the shipping container.

“This type of negligent work just goes to show that carrying out prescribed electrical work needs expertise, training, and qualification without which it can be even fatal.

“All complaints about unauthorised and poor or dangerous work are taken seriously and investigated by the EWRB, who will not hesitate to prosecute those undertaking illegal prescribed electrical work.”

A public register of all licensed electrical workers is available for anyone to check the person they hire is legitimately licensed.

Notes:

· Role of Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB): The primary functions of the Board are to register and license electrical workers and to ensure the competency of those workers to promote public safety. This is carried out by ensuring a minimum standard of competence for issuing and retaining a licence, holding disciplinary hearings about complaints, prosecuting those undertaking unauthorised prescribed electrical work (PEW), and undertaking other activities that support safe and compliant PEW.

· The Occupational Regulation Team within the Market Integrity Branch of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) provides, among other things, operational support for registering and licensing electrical workers on behalf of the Registrar. The National Manager of Occupational Regulation is the Registrar, who acts under delegation from the Board.

· Licensing rationale: Prescribed electrical work is defined in section 2 of the Electricity Act 1992 and schedule 1 of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. The EWRB has designated different classes of registration for electrical workers and has specified for each class the prescribed electrical work that a person is qualified and authorised to undertake.

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