Supervision
A supervisor is a Registered electrical worker who holds a current practising licence.
An Electrical Worker who holds a Trainee Limited Certificate or a Limited Certificate must be supervised by an electrical worker with an appropriate Registration class. The appropriate Registration class must be within the same scope of work (or limits of work) for which the supervised person is working towards becoming registered.
Regulation 93 of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 states that any prescribed electrical work a trainee may do, or assist in doing, is any work that is within the particular class of work for which the trainee is seeking Registration, and that is within the scope of work that the trainee’s supervisor is authorised to do.
Declaration of Supervision
You must complete a Supervision Declaration form when you are supervising an electrical worker who holds a Trainee Limited Certificate or Limited Certificate.
Supervision requirements
When supervising more than two electrical workers who hold either a Trainee Limited Certificate or a Limited Certificate, Supervisors will need to hold an endorsed class of Registration related to Supervision. The Board have created a Supervision Companion Guide to assist all electrical workers in applying good supervision practices.
Supervision Companion Guide [PDF, 1 MB]
Supervision is further defined by the following Board policies:
Supervision for Trainees Holding a Limited Certificate [PDF, 728 KB]
Supervision for Persons who are not Limited Certificate Holders [PDF, 772 KB]
Reference for NZ Experience Pathway
If your supervisee is working towards the NZ Experience Pathway for Registration, you must provide a reference detailing the prescribed electrical work they completed during the time you were their supervisor.
The reference must:
- Detail the types of prescribed electrical work experience completed and whether the trainee is competent in carrying out this work
- Include the start and end dates of employment
- Include the number of hours, days, weeks, or months of work experience the trainee has completed
- Be on company letterhead
- Be signed and dated by you
- Contain your email contact details.
Cancelling the Supervision Agreement
If you are no longer supervising a Trainee Limited Certificate or Limited Certificate holder, or you are a Trainee and no longer being supervised, you must notify the Board:
- Log in to your EW Portal
- Select “View and update supervision agreements”
- Click “End supervision” for the agreement you need to cancel
- Enter the date the supervision agreement ended.
Once we receive notification from the Supervisor that they are no longer supervising the Trainee Limited Certificate or Limited Certificate holder, the Trainee Limited Certificate or Limited Certificate will be made inactive until we approve the new Supervision Agreement. Work experience completed by the applicant will not be considered towards their application to becoming Registered while their Trainee Limited Certificate or Limited Certificate is inactive.
Submitting a new supervision agreement or changing your supervisor
Once you have a new Supervisor, you must submit a signed and completed Supervision Declaration form from the registered and licensed electrical worker who will supervise you.
To submit the Supervision Agreement:
- Log in to your EW Portal
- Select “View and update supervision agreements”
- Select “Change my supervision arrangement”
- Upload a completed Supervision Agreement form.
It can take up to 20 working days for a change of Supervision Agreement request to be processed. You must not carry out prescribed electrical work until you receive notice that the new agreement has been approved.
If approved, both the Limited Certificate holder and the supervisor will receive a confirmation email.