Switchboard rescue and resuscitation

Employers must ensure that workers performing or helping to perform electrical work are competent in rescue and resuscitation of workers injured while working live.

It is a condition of an electrical licence that workers must be competent in resuscitation and, in the case of linespersons, pole top rescue.

Resuscitation training providers will not issue a resuscitation certificate for a period of more than 12 months, and if a worker does not have a current certificate, disciplinary action may be taken.

A person who is acting as a safety observer needs to be competent to:

• help with the electrical work
• rescue the person performing the electrical work and provide resuscitation.

The regulation also requires that the safety observer’s competencies have been assessed in the past six months.