Who Is Responsible for Electrical Safety in the Workplace?

Short answer

The primary responsibility for workplace health and safety sits with the person conducting a business or undertaking, commonly called a PCBU.

For electrical safety, this means the business must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that workers and other people are not exposed to electrical risks.

But electrical safety is not the responsibility of one person alone.

Directors and officers, managers, supervisors and workers all have responsibilities within the workplace. Where several businesses share a workplace or activity, their duties may also overlap.

The important point is that electrical safety cannot simply be handed to somebody else and forgotten.

Who has the primary responsibility for electrical safety?

Under NSW WHS law, the PCBU has the primary duty of care.

This includes providing and maintaining a work environment, plant and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health, so far as is reasonably practicable.

For electrical equipment, a PCBU with management or control of that equipment must ensure it is safe to use.

Company officers, such as directors, also have due diligence responsibilities. This includes making sure the business has appropriate resources and processes to identify and manage electrical risks.

What rights and responsibilities do workers have?

Workers have the right to work in an environment where health and safety risks are properly managed and to be consulted about health and safety matters that affect them.

Workers also have responsibilities.

They must take reasonable care of their own health and safety, take reasonable care that their actions do not adversely affect others, and follow reasonable workplace safety instructions, policies and procedures.

In practical terms, this can include using electrical equipment correctly, following safe work procedures and reporting damaged, faulty or unsafe equipment when it is identified.

Electrical safety works best when workers are encouraged to report problems rather than simply working around them.

What responsibilities do managers and supervisors have?

Managers and supervisors have an important role because they turn the organisation's WHS responsibilities into what actually happens at work.

SafeWork NSW identifies responsibilities including making decisions about health and safety, ensuring legal requirements are met, acting on safety reports, carrying out workplace inspections, ensuring safe work practices and providing inductions and safety briefings.

Their roles may differ.

Managers will often have greater responsibility for planning, resources, systems and organisational decisions.

Supervisors are generally closer to day-to-day work and are often responsible for making sure procedures are actually followed by the people carrying out the work.

Both have an important part to play in identifying and responding to electrical risks.

Can electrical safety duties be shared?

Yes.

More than one person or business can have a WHS duty in relation to the same electrical risk.

This commonly occurs where contractors, subcontractors, building managers, tenants or several businesses operate within the same workplace.

Having overlapping duties does not mean one party can simply transfer its responsibility to another.

Where PCBUs share duties, they are required to consult, cooperate and coordinate their activities so far as is reasonably practicable.

For example, engaging a contractor to perform electrical work does not automatically remove the host business's own WHS responsibilities.

Each party needs to understand what it controls and what it can reasonably influence.

What happens if an electrical risk is identified but not controlled?

Once an electrical risk has been identified, it should not simply be ignored because nothing has happened yet.

Electrical risks can include electric shock, burns and fire, as well as secondary injuries caused by an electrical incident.

The WHS approach is to eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Where elimination is not reasonably practicable, the risk must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

For unsafe electrical equipment, this can mean disconnecting or isolating the equipment and preventing it from being used until it has been repaired, tested and found safe, replaced or permanently removed from service.

The objective is not simply to comply after something goes wrong.

Good electrical risk management identifies the problem, applies an appropriate control and makes sure that control continues to work.

For more information, see our detailed guide to managing electrical risks in the workplace.