3.3 Duties of Electrical Workers & Competence

Duties When Carrying Out Prescribed Electrical Work

Prescribed electrical work (PEW) is not “any electrical task you feel comfortable with.” It is work the regulations single out for authorisation, competence, safety controls, testing, and certification. When you carry out PEW, ESR expects a chain of professional behaviours that the regulations exam tests as duty questions—not as optional best practice.

Core duty bundle (exam framing)

While carrying out PEW, a worker is expected to ensure that:

1. The work complies with the Electricity (Safety) Regulations and the applicable standards/codes (including AS/NZS 3000 and other Schedule 2 instruments where they apply).
2. Safety measures appropriate to the work are in place—isolation, barriers, proving dead, PPE as required by the task, and control of hazards to others on site.
3. Testing and verification appropriate to the work are completed so results support a claim of compliance and safety (detailed test methods appear in testing chapters).
4. Certification and records required for that PEW risk category are issued and retained as the regulations require (timeframes and document types are developed in section 3.4 and the certification chapter).

If a stem describes a worker who “wired it and turned it on” without testing or paperwork, the failure is usually multi-duty: safety, testing, and certification together.

Competence: Class Limits and Personal Limits

Registration class and practising licence

New Zealand electrical workers operate under registration classes and practising licences administered through the EWRB framework (details in the Act/EWRB chapter). ESR duty questions assume you only carry out PEW that your class and licence authorise. An electrician’s limits of work differ from those of a related trade class or a trainee; an inspector’s inspection functions are not the same as every electrician task.

Exam application:

• If the stem’s worker is not authorised for that PEW, the correct answer is that the work must not be done (or must only be done under the lawful supervision model the regulations allow).
• “I have done this for years overseas” is not a substitute for NZ registration/licence authority on an EWRB paper.

Personal competence within class

Even inside your class limits, competence means you have the knowledge, skill, and judgement for that installation context. ESR and professional expectations align: do not take on specialised PEW you cannot complete safely and correctly. The exam may present a fact pattern where a licensed person attempts unfamiliar high-complexity work without competence or support—expect the answer to favour declining, getting competent help, or proper supervision/inspection paths rather than “having a go.”

Practical self-check before accepting work

1. Is this PEW?
2. Am I registered/licensed to do (or supervise) it?
3. Am I personally competent for this installation type and method?
4. Can I complete testing and certification required for the risk category?
5. If no to any step—stop, escalate, or restructure the job lawfully.

Supervision Duties

Trainees and others who may work only under supervision create a second duty set: the supervisor’s duties. At exam level, remember:

• Supervision is an active responsibility, not a name on a timesheet.
• The supervisor must be someone who may lawfully supervise that PEW.
• Supervised work still has to meet safety, standards compliance, testing, and certification expectations appropriate to the work.
• Signing or allowing certification without adequate oversight of what was done is a classic disciplinary fact pattern.

Detailed who-may-carry-out / who-may-supervise matrices appear in the PEW chapter. Here, lock the principle: supervision is a regulated duty, not a courtesy title.

Not Leaving the Installation Electrically Unsafe

A stand-out ESR worker duty is negative as well as positive: you must not carry out or complete work in a way that leaves the installation (or relevant fittings/appliances) electrically unsafe. That links section 3.2 directly to day-to-day behaviour:

• Do not reconnect or hand back an installation when residual-current protection fails unsafe criteria.
• Do not ignore open earths, reverse polarity, missing MEN links where required, or damaged fittings that create shock/fire risk.
• If you discover an unsafe condition outside your original scope, professional and regulatory expectations still require you to make safe or escalate appropriately—not to walk away silently because “it was already like that” without addressing imminent risk in line with safe practice and site duties.

Exam stems love the worker who finishes a partial job, re-energises for convenience, and leaves protective devices defeated. That is a direct breach of the “do not leave electrically unsafe” principle even if the paperwork is partly filled in.

Interaction with Health and Safety at Work Duties (High Level)

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) framework sits alongside ESR. For this regulations exam:

• Employers / PCBUs must provide safe systems of work, training, and suitable PPE and equipment for electrical tasks.
• Workers must take reasonable care of their own and others’ safety, follow reasonable instructions, and use PPE provided.
• Safe isolation, LOTO, and live-work controls are both good electrical practice and HSWA risk controls—detailed prove–test–prove content appears in the safety chapter.

Do not let HSWA replace ESR study. HSWA does not issue CoCs, define PEW risk categories, or set residual-current unsafe deeming rules. Conversely, complying with ESR does not excuse ignoring site safety procedures. Exam answers that mention only “OSHA-style” foreign rules, or that claim HSWA alone governs PEW certification, are wrong for NZ EWRB.

Integrated duty picture

When a stem says a worker skipped isolation and PPE, you may need both HSWA-style care and ESR/safety practice. When a stem says a worker certified high-risk PEW without an inspector’s RoI path, that is ESR certification/PEW, not a pure HSWA item.

Closing study note

Worker-duty questions are often answered by asking: Was the person authorised? Did they work safely? Did they test? Did they certify correctly? Did they leave the installation safe? If any answer is no, the option that normalises that behaviour is almost certainly wrong.