Electrical Safety Disclaimer

Electricity can cause serious injury, death, fire and equipment damage. Treat every circuit as live until proven dead. Nothing on this site reduces those hazards.

Do not perform electrical work unless you are properly licensed, trained, authorised and competent for that work, and permitted to do it where you are. In Australia, most electrical work is restricted by law to licensed electrical workers. This site must not be used to attempt DIY electrical work.

Apprentices and trainees must only work on, or test, electrical equipment under appropriate supervision and with the required authorisation.

Always isolate, and lock out / tag out where required, before working. Prove your test instrument on a known live source, prove the conductors dead, then prove your instrument again. Test before touch and follow your approved safe work procedures.

Live testing should only be carried out by competent, authorised people using appropriate, in-date test equipment, rated PPE and proper risk controls. If you are unsure at any point, stop and consult a licensed electrician, your supervisor, an electrical engineer, the equipment manufacturer, or your regulator.

Sparkie Sidekick provides general educational information and fault-finding suggestions in our own words. It does not provide electrical design, compliance certification, engineering advice, or site-specific installation instructions, and it cannot see your installation, equipment, wiring, environment or site hazards.

Verify everything against the current AS/NZS 3000 and AS/NZS 3008, manufacturer documentation, your site procedures, and local regulations and licensing requirements before acting on it.

Never use this site to justify bypassing or defeating safety devices, interlocks, overloads, guards, emergency stops, RCDs or other protection systems, or to reset a tripped device without finding the fault. An RCD or other protective device does not make electrical work safe — safe isolation does.