Apprentice electrician death leads to almost $1m in fines

Following separate investigations by Energy Safe Victoria and WorkSafe Victoria into the death of an apprentice electrician working unsupervised in 2021, two lift companies have been fined. Facing Victoria’s Supreme Court on 27 June, Nordic Elevator Services Pty Ltd and Nordic Elevators Pty Ltd were ordered to pay $30,000 and $20,000 after pleading guilty to four and six charges, respectively, under the Electricity Safety Act 1998 and Electrical Safety (General) Regulations 2019. Failure to effectively supervise the apprentice and illegally working on energised electrical equipment were included in the offences.

Additionally, Nordic Elevator Services and Nordic Elevators were fined a further combined $880,000. This was after they pleaded guilty to additional charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 — two for the former and one for the latter. These offences relate to failing to provide the systems and necessary supervision for safe work. Justice Gorton highlighted the seriousness of these offences in sentencing, as well as the risk when unsupervised apprentices undertake electrical work. “The risk … is obvious: the risk is of death,” Gorton said.

Gorton said that “due to their inexperience, [apprentices] may be more likely to overlook or ignore the safety precautions they have been taught”, which emphasises the importance of supervision by a licensed electrician — for the safety of apprentices. “It is the risk of their being careless or taking short cuts that must be guarded against, not just the risk of their engaging in work with insufficient knowledge,” Gorton said, stressing that the sentence should “not to be seen, in any way, as putting a value on the life” of the apprentice.

The investigation

After being alerted to the death of a 21-year-old apprentice electrical worker by emergency services, Energy Safe Victoria and WorkSafe Victoria opened their investigations on 22 March 2021. The apprentice had been electrocuted while repairing a faulty car lift at the back of a West Melbourne apartment block. The fourth-year apprentice had been instructed by a senior technician to attend the site and report back after the lift doors got stuck open, according to facts tendered to the court.

Attempts were made by the apprentice to source a spare part and repair the lift on his own — after nearly seven hours, the man’s body was found on top of the car lift. Energy Safe Compliance Officers who attended the scene found that the electrical equipment had not been isolated and the apprentice was carrying out installation work on energised equipment without supervision. “This incident is [a] tragic reminder that apprentices are the most vulnerable of all electrical workers and there is no excuse for leaving them unsupervised,” Energy Safe Victoria CEO Leanne Hughson said.

Updated apprentice supervision requirements

Energy Safe Victoria has recently introduced updated apprentice supervision requirements, which come into effect on 1 September 2025. These include changes to supervision levels and ratios. Any electrician, company or contractor that breaches these rules can face penalties. “Our supervision requirements for electrical apprentices are focused on improving safety outcomes to prevent an incident like this occurring again,” Energy Safe Victoria said.

More information on apprentice supervision requirements and industry responsibilities is available here, via the Energy Safe Victoria website.

Image credit: iStock.com/baona. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.