3. Background
11. Unless exempted, all people undertaking electrical work must be registered, but only those undertaking work for gain or reward are also required to be licensed. There were 30,697 people registered as electrical workers in the year ending June 1998. This total comprises 9,810 registered electrical service technicians, 16,552 registered electricians, 1,698 registered line mechanics, and 2,637 registered electrical inspectors. Currently 19,479 of these electrical workers have practicing licenses. Thirty-five companies have employer licences for electrical work. The number of electrical Certificates of Compliance issued in the year up to 30 June 1998 was 141,310.
12. All people undertaking gas work are required to be registered and have a current annual licence, unless exempted. The PG&D Board's database shows that there are currently 1,011 licensed registered gasfitters, 1,720 licensed craftsman gasfitters, and 27 licensed gas inspectors. There are also 295 holders of Limited Certificates. This Certificate allows the holder to carry out work under the supervision of a registered gasfitter or craftsman gasfitter. The PG&D Board estimates that 370 craftsman gasfitters are not currently licensed. It is likely that these people have retired and are no longer undertaking gas work. One company has an employer licence and there are currently 14 large installations where there is an exemption from the requirement to use registered workers by virtue of the "approved person in charge" provision.
13. Gas Certificates of Compliance received in the year ended 31 March 1998 totalled 22,257.
Cost of Current Safety and Licensing Regime
14. The Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB) spends $3 million per year administering the registration, licensing, and disciplinary processes. This includes an audit budget of $482,000. In addition, Commerce spends $200,000 running the complaints assessment process for electrical workers.
15. Commerce spends $2.7 million on the administration of the electrical safety legislation in addition to the items above. This includes the costs of general safety publicity, the production of electrical safety standards, the investigation of electrical accidents, the provision of general safety monitoring and the provision of information to the public and the electrical industry. Commerce spends $600,000 carrying out similar work on gas safety.
16. OSH estimates that about 0.8% of its work is spent in the electricity and gas industry sectors, equivalent to about $160,000 of its operational budget.
17. The total cost of running the PG&D Board's registration and licensing functions for the year ending 31 March 1998 was $348,000, of which approximately $87,000 was spent on gas registration and licensing. The total cost of running the certification system and undertaking gasfitter competency audits was $453,000 for the same period.
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