esv.vic.gov.au
The gloves are on—for
electrical licensing assessments
By Sue Sizer, Compliance Officer, Electrical Installation Safety
ESV is introducing a new requirement for insulating gloves and
fire resistant gloves during electrical licensing assessments.
From 1 January 2019, candidates
taking the Safe Working Practice (SWP)
assessment and Restricted Licence
Class 2 assessment will be required to
use gloves during the assessment. This
requirement includes low voltage (LV)
insulating gloves compliant with
AS 2225 and fire resistant outer gloves
for mechanical protection. The use of
gloves has already been a requirement
of the Restricted Licence Class 1
Fault Finding and Switchgear Worker's
Licence assessments for some time.
Candidates must supply their
own gloves for the assessment.
Assessment centres will carry a small
number of gloves for the rare occasions
when a candidate supplies their own
gloves which fail testing on the day.
The candidate must provide their own
gloves in good faith in the first place. Not
supplying gloves at all, or bringing gloves
that are blatantly incorrect or damaged
is not acceptable. Inners are optional,
and a matter of personal preference
with candidate-supplied gloves.
Both sets of gloves must be checked
during the assessment each time the
candidate intends to put them on.
Checks include a visual check and
stretch, checking for deterioration,
cracks, cuts or holes. The LV gloves
must also be air tested using a roll
test or similar.
Read more about electrical
apprentice safety and
appropriate supervision at
esv.vic.gov.au/apprenticesafety
Gloves are to be used when the risk
of accidental contact with live parts is
possible, including when live terminals
are exposed for testing. Once isolation
has been proven and the circuit locked
out and tagged out (LOTO), the gloves
may be removed. There is no penalty
if the candidate chooses to leave their
gloves on throughout the assessment.
Use of gloves in the assessments was
trialed at Federation University earlier
this year. Candidates were given plenty
of opportunity to practice working with
the gloves beforehand and generally
had no issues during their assessment.
Additional time has been allocated for
the assessment (10 minutes), to allow
for testing and putting on the gloves.
The trial showed that candidates
generally did not require this extra time.
This will be monitored once all centres
carry out the updated assessment and
may be adjusted as necessary in the
future.
Wearing gloves isn’t
just for the assessment
The practice of wearing gloves for
licensing assessments should not
been seen as the only time electricians
should be wearing them. ESV strongly
recommends that gloves are worn on
the job where there is a risk of accidental
contact with live parts, such as when
testing or fault finding. Apprentices
should be encouraged to use their
gloves on site, both for safety and to
familiarise themselves with their use
before their licensing assessments.
ESV emphasises that LV insulating
gloves do not negate the need for
correct isolation, and all circuits should
be disconnected from supply before
working on the circuit.
The use of LV insulating gloves is a
cultural change for our industry, and
one that could save many electrical
workers’ lives.
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