The ETU conducted a survey of our apprentice members to understand their experience of their apprenticeship – including knowledge of their apprentice mentor, delays in starting training and safety at work.
13% of all apprentices have received a shock during their apprenticeship – doubling to 25% if they are behind on their training.
The instances of apprentices receiving electric shocks or worse is alarmingly high.
8.11% of apprentices who are not on track with their training say that they do not understand the requirements to isolate, lock out and tag out circuits to be worked on compared to only 1.37% of apprentices who are on track with their training.
4% of those who are not on track with their profiling say they do not have knowledge of these requirements compared with 1.13% of apprentices who are on track with their profiling.
The difference between a person receiving an electric shock and being electrocuted (an electrical fatality) can be dependent on luck and is determined by the path that current takes through the body. Current passing through the heart is much more likely to be fatal than only passing through a limb, meaning that if contact is made through the hand and the secondary contact is made through the elbow, it is more likely to be minor than if contact is made through the hand and the secondary contact through the leg or foot.
Even if an electric shock is not fatal, serious burns can be caused by such incidents. In some cases, these burns have caused workers to be on leave for extensive periods.
9.1% of apprentices are not starting trades school until at least their 2nd year .
And 9.9% of apprentices across all stages of the apprenticeship are not on track with their training.
Apprentices need to be educated early in their apprentice journey on safety requirements regarding electrotechnology, supervision requirements, and be armed with the ability to say no and ask questions when they are unsure or things are clearly unsafe. Delays in starting training means that apprentices are not undertaking fundamental safety training until well into their apprenticeships and is increasing the risk of them receiving a shock or worse.