Electricians throughout the residential building sector in New South Wales have largely sailed through checks to ensure that they have valid licences, indicating a high level of compliance with licensing rules in that state.

In a recent operation, Fair Trading New South Wales visited more than 200 sites across Western Sydney where electrical work associated with residential construction was being performed and conducted checks on almost 190 licences.

Of these, only two penalty infringement notices were issued, albeit with education letters being sent to a number of other businesses and workers.

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rose Webb welcomed the results, saying the high level of compliance helped to ensure that dangers associated with electrical work were minimised.

“Operations such as this one support the NSW licencing regime, which protects workers, consumers and the public from risks that can arise when an unlicensed and unqualified person carries out electrical work,” Webb said.

Licences are required for all electrical wiring work across NSW irrespective of whether or not the premises in question is residential, commercial or industrial in nature.

Those performing unlicensed work can be fined $22,000 in the case of individuals or $110,000 in the case of companies.

Consumers can check the licence of anyone carrying out electrical work on the Fair Trading web site.