Which Electrical Licence Does Your Queensland Hire Actually Need?

Two things go wrong when Queensland employers hire electricians, and they are both licensing.

The first is assuming "licensed electrician" means one thing. It covers six different worker licences with materially different scopes.

The second is bigger, and it catches out businesses rather than candidates: your electrician's licence does not license your business.

The worker licences

• Electrical mechanic — All electrical work - installing wiring, changing overhead lines, repairing electrical equipment. This is the full licence most roles need.
• Electrical fitter — Rewinding and repairing motors, building and assembling switchboards, maintaining and repairing equipment. Not general installation.
• Electrical linesperson — Building and maintaining overhead electric lines, and testing them.
• Electrical jointer — Installing, jointing and terminating cables, including high voltage.
• Restricted electrical work — Specific electrical work attached to another trade - a refrigeration technician, plumber or gas fitter doing the electrical part of their own work.
• Electrical work training permit — Electrical work under specified conditions while training.

The two that cause the most trouble:

Electrical fitter is not electrical mechanic. A fitter can build you a switchboard and rewind a motor. He cannot go and install the wiring. If your job ad says "electrician" and your work is installation, a fitter is not your candidate, however good he is.

Restricted is genuinely restricted. A refrigeration technician with a restricted electrical work licence can do the electrical work attached to the refrigeration job in front of him. That is the whole scope. Picture a mechanical services company that hires a refrigeration technician holding a restricted licence and then puts him on general electrical maintenance because he is "electrically licensed". That is unlicensed electrical work, and the fact that everyone acted in good faith does not change it.

The one employers miss: the contractor licence

In Queensland, a business carrying out electrical work for others needs an electrical contractor licence. That sits with the business, not the person.

Hiring six licensed electrical mechanics does not give your company the right to contract for electrical work. Those are two separate authorisations held by two separate parties, and you need both.

This is the same structure as plumbing in Queensland, where the QBCC distinguishes occupational licences held by the individual from contractor licences held by the business. If you have worked out one, you have worked out the other.

What to do before you advertise

Name the licence class in the ad. "Electrical mechanic licence required" gets you a shortlist you can interview. "Licensed electrician" gets you fitters, restricted-licence holders and training-permit holders, and puts the sorting job on you.

Verify the licence, do not accept a photo of the card. Licences expire, get downgraded and get suspended. A photograph tells you what was true on the day it was taken.

Check your own contractor licence at the same time. If it has lapsed, every job your fully licensed crew is currently on is exposed, and you will find out about it from a client rather than from a reminder email.

The short version

Six worker licence classes, one contractor licence for the business, and you need the right combination of both. Name the class you need, check it, and check your own.

HJ Recruitment places permanent electrical, plumbing, HVAC and refrigeration, fire and solar tradespeople with Australian employers, from our base in Brisbane. If you are not sure which licence class your role needs, ask us - we will tell you whether or not you are hiring through us.

Sources- WorkSafe Queensland - Classes of electrical licences- Business Queensland - Electrical licences