Health and Safety Forum

Knowledge Network | Health and Safety Forum

EWRB Changes

  • Posted by Bill Doig on 1 October 2021 at 8:24 am

    I protested this when first mooted by the EWRB and I believed they had listened to those EDB’s that responded but no.

    “<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>From: Susan Allan <Susan.Allan@mbie.govt.nz>

    Sent: Friday, 1 October 2021 7:49 am
    Subject: Introduction if a new Occupational Licensing Platform for the EWRB
    Importance: High

    ANNOUNCEMENT: We’re pleased to announce that the new Occupational Licensing Platform (OLP) and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) systems for electrical workers will be available from Monday 18 October.

    The changes to the OLP and CPD systems will make it easier for electrical workers to register or relicense online, and provide them with an easily accessible history of their development and skills.

    As of Monday 18 October

    · The new OLP will only be for the registration and licensing of individuals or companies by the EWRB. Practising licences are the responsibility of individual electrical workers and not their employers. As a result of the change to the portal the option for employers to have access to the EWRB portal has been removed.

    · You can no longer pay for your employee’s licence fees through the portal. Fees will be processed through the new OLP. If you want to continue to pay for the fees of your electrical workers you can ask them to pay their own fee and then reimburse them for the cost, or authorise them to use a company credit card.

    · Direct credits will no longer be accepted if you currently pay for your electrical workers registration/ limited certificate. Payment can be made by including a company credit card details on the application form.

    · This change has been put in place to reduce the administrative burden on employers to review their electrical workers practising licences.

    · Employers can view the status of their electrical workers’ practising licences through the Public Register at any time. As of Monday 18 October the register will also record the licensing history of electrical workers.

    · The new CPD system will provide an online history of the development and skills of each electrical worker. The CPD system will also give electrical workers the option to book their own competence programme course.

    · You can still book courses on behalf of your electrical workers. This can be done directly with course providers. A list of course providers and their courses is available to employers to view on the EWRB Website Find a competence programme or training provider | Electrical Workers Registration Board (ewrb.govt.nz)

    · You will not be able to book courses through the new CPD portal, as only electrical workers have this access.

    · If you hold an Employer Licence there will be no changes to how you operate. You can continue to send in paper-based applications.

    · User guides for the new OLP and CPD systems, and electrical worker employers will be available online shortly.

    System outage

    · From 8pm on Tuesday 12 October until 12 noon on Monday 18 October the current EW portal will be unavailable. At this time you will no longer be able to access the system. During this time electrical workers will also not be able to access the system to renew their licence.

    · This outage will ensure that when the system goes live on Monday 18 October, all the right information is there.

    We look forward to introducing the new systems to you. If you have any questions ahead of the implementation please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us at: registrations@ewrb.govt.nz

    Kind regards

    Susan Allan

    Senior Licensing and Complaints Administrator

    Occupational Licensing, Market Integrity

    Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

    DDI 04 901 8540

    Julie Muxworthy replied 3 years, 1 month ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Stephen Small

    Member
    1 October 2021 at 8:35 am

    Hi Bill

    I can see why you are annoyed, especially with their statement: <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>”This change has been put in place to reduce the administrative burden on employers to review their electrical workers practising licences.”

    I’m not sure how the changes reduce our administrative burden, but I guess it reduces theirs?

    Likewise with us not being able to access our workers CPD, after all we organise it, pay for it, schedule workers to attend it – and have legislative obligations to ensure it is current.

    Maybe if the rest of the industry felt strongly enough, we should request a meeting with them for a ‘please explain, so we can understand?’

  • Julie Muxworthy

    Member
    5 October 2021 at 2:20 pm

    I agree that this needs to be flagged back to the EWRB as an EEA collaborative voice.

    Just a brief look at potential impacts indicates that this change will increase administration for employers and they will lose visibility of worker licence status.

    Whilst I do agree with workers owning their CPD and work undertaken under their licence, but there appears to be no impact assessment or management of change gone through to make the cultural and behaviour changes required for this to be effective.

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