A company and its director have been fined more than $120,000 for performing unlicensed electrical work over a period of years.

The company and the director pleaded guilty at Cleveland Magistrates Court to 30 charges relating to performing unlicenced electrical work and unlicensed electrical contracting and failing to comply with an electrical safety duty.

The southeast Queensland company was the subject of a lengthy Electrical Safety Office and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation.

MEA NEWS

• Rise and fall clause: what is it and why use it?
• Probuild and Condev Construction collapse
• Smart car subsidies can reduce power prices for all

The ESO received the first of several complaints in August 2018 regarding the quality of work and that company was carrying out unlicensed electrical work.

Targeted inspection and audits found unsafe electrical work and Wiring Rules contraventions at various locations and referred the owner of the business to the Electrical Licensing Committee where he was subsequently disqualified from holding an electrical work licence for a period of 10-years from 21 August 2020.

The matter was also referred to the Office of the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor which resulted in a prosecution under five complaints for the following offences:

Company

• 19 charges for performing unlicensed electrical contracting under section 56 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 (the Act) between Jan 2019 and May 2020.

Director

• Eight charges for performing unlicensed electrical work under section 55 of the Act between October 2019 and July 2021.
• Two charges for failing to comply with an electrical safety duty under section 40C of the Act (section 39 Duty of worker).
• One charge for failing to comply with an electrical safety duty under section 40D of the Act (section 39 Duty of worker) between October 2019 and August 2020.

The company director told the court his, and his company’s offenses, occurred during an extended period of financial and personal stress, and his company tried to do competent work.

The court heard the company is now trading legally.

For its offense, the company was fined $76,000, while the owner received a $50,000 fine after an $8,000 reduction taking into consideration fines already imposed by the Electrical Licensing Committee. Both defendants were ordered to pay professional and court filing costs totalling $2,000.20.

The court ordered that no convictions be recorded.

Always use a Master Electrician for any electrical work.  Master Electricians are licenced electrical contractors and adhere to a code of ethics. All completed work complies with the Australian Standards and Statutory legislation and comes with a minimum 12-month workmanship guarantee.  Call 1300 889 198 to locate your closest Master Electrician.