Electrician fined after apprentice receives electric shock

An electrical worker has been ordered to pay a $3000 fine and $553.80 in costs after pleading guilty to failing to effectively supervise an apprentice, who was lucky to escape serious injury after receiving an electric shock at work. Earlier this year, Mandurah-based electrical contractor Ballantyne Commercial Property Services, which employed electrical worker Michael Georgiou and the apprentice at the time of the incident, was fined $12,000 for not immediately reporting the electrical incident to the network operator.

Both matters are offences under Western Australia’s Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991. Georgiou was allegedly the leading hand on a Ballantyne project in Beckenham alongside another electrical worker and the apprentice. Georgiou was nearby but not directly supervising the apprentice when the younger man touched live wires while disconnecting cables in the ceiling space, receiving an electric shock.

Under the regulations, supervising electricians must ensure apprentices do not work on or near live electrical installations. Georgiou had previously de-energised the electrical circuits in the work area, but on the day of the incident he did not verify that the electricity supply to the circuits remained isolated.

WA Director of Energy Safety Saj Abdoolakhan said the apprentice was fortunate to have avoided a serious or fatal injury. “The regulations explicitly state that effective supervision of electrical work is required to prevent danger to life and property. This case should remind industry to always check the electrical installation is de-energised and safe to be worked on prior to starting work and to ensure that electrical work, particularly by apprentices, is effectively supervised,” Abdoolakhan said.

Image credit: iStock.com/Kunakorn Rassadornyindee