To my NSW residents, do NOT LISTEN TO O’BRIEN ELECTRICAL:
For the uninitiated, O’Brien is an electrical and plumbing service, serving NSW. While they are a well respected business in the state, they have been spreading serious misinformation about NSW law and electrical safety. Their article, “what electrical work can I do in NSW”, contains SERIOUS misinformation, both about NSW law and electrical safety. Let’s get into it:
How they define electrical work, vs the statute:
O’Brien defines electrical work as:
“the manufacturing, constructing, installing, testing, maintaining, repairing, altering, removing or replacing any electrical equipment”
This is a DIRECT QUOTE from the Electrical Safety Act 2002, and crucially…. IT ONLY APPLIES TO QUEENSLAND.
There is no federal electrical safety act in Australia. Each state makes their own. And while fixed wiring universally requires a license within the country, when it comes to non hardwired equipment, their laws vary.
In NSW, the law defines restricted electrical work as electrical wiring work, as defined below:
“Electrical wiring work means the actual physical work of installing, repairing, altering, removing, or adding to an electrical installation or the supervising of that work.”
“Electrical installation includes fixed appliances, wires, fittings, meters, apparatus, or other electrical equipment used for (or related to) conveying, measuring, controlling, and using electricity in a particular place.”
What they claim qualifies as such:
Installing a power point
Replacing a light switch
Repairing an electrical appliance
Replacing a plug on a lead
Installing a ceiling fan
Rewiring a room
Installing an air conditioner
Crucially, only 5/7 tasks are legally defined as electrical wiring work under the Gas and Electricity Act 2017. Why? See below.
Electrical installation does NOT include:
any electrical article connected to, and extending or situated beyond, any electrical outlet socket.
This means that replacing a plug on a lead, and repairing an electrical appliance, DO NOT LEGALLY QUALIFY AS ELECTRICAL WIRING WORK.
While you MUST be a competent person, and you MUST use a PAT tester when repairing an electrical appliance; in NSW, you do NOT need to possess an electrical license to repair an appliance. This is why test and tag, and plug wiring courses exist in NSW, independently of full electrical work courses.
Where it gets EXTREMELY DANGEROUS:
They then go onto claim:
“There are some excellent (loosest sense of the word possible) reasons for these laws (loosest sense of the word possible):”
“Unlike in the USA, where the electricity voltage is only 110 volts, it is 240 volts in Australia, which is enough to kill you if you are accidentally electrocuted.”
THE CRITICAL ERROR:
110-120v AC is NOT EXTRA LOW VOLTAGE (ELV). The MAXIMUM safe threshold for ELV is 50v AC. 120V AC CAN AND DOES KILL PEOPLE! THIS IS SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION. THIS IS GOING TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO IMPORT 120V APPLIANCES, AND REPAIR THEM, AND/OR VISIT THE US TO DO ELECTRICAL WORK AND DIE.
THE MAXIMUM THRESHOLD for ELV is the MAXIMUM level of voltage that can be handled by the human body under NORMAL conditions, and 120v AC is 2.4x the threshold for ELV.
In addition, to achieve the same wattage, 120v appliances draw DOUBLE the amperage used in 240v appliances with the same wattage, which means TWICE the heat, which in turn means TWICE the fire hazard. High wattage 120v appliances are genuine fire hazards, and many people in the US HAVE died from what O’Brien considers a “safe” voltage.
New Zealand: The ultimate control:
The claims that the voltage being 240v being the reason for such laws in place is only FURTHER dismantled when you consider that New Zealand, which has the EXACT same electrical infrastructure as Australia, has MUCH more lenient laws on DIY electrical, allowing homeowners to perform many tasks that are defined as electrical wiring work.
And guess what? New Zealand actually has a LOWER fatality rate. Between 2023-2024, New Zealand had 0.33 deaths per million people, compared to Australia’s 0.42 deaths per million people.
Psychological studies have proven that, when something desirable is made illegal, it DOES NOT STOP people from doing it, it only creates a black market for it. MANY PEOPLE continue to diy electrical work in all states of Australia, and because the laws have effectively prohibited it, this means that people do NOT get proper, professional guidance on how to do such work safely, and instead, turn to YouTube or ChatGPT.
My dad was one of these people. He wired his own light fitting in the laundry, and he asked ChatGPT for instructions on how to do it, which it provided. While the fitting works fine, he ultimately got his advice from a chatbot, which CAN and DOES make mistakes. In fact, I am planning to start a petition to harmonize NSW with NZ, specifically so dad can learn to do tasks like his light fitting safely.
Who to listen to instead:
For all NSW residents considering doing electrical work, please, I CANNOT recommend Tamworth Electrician enough. They actually state the law as it is, and don’t misrepresent science either. Plus, critically, they CITE THEIR SOURCES. When they said anything connected to fixed wiring requires a professional, they LINKED THE GAS AND ELECTRICITY ACT. When I saw they did that, I just wanted to scream HALLELUJAH! And they’re not condescending either.
