Energy Safe Victoria has marked its first licence renewal with a licensee who was the first electrician to complete the regulator’s new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program.

Energy Safe chief executive officer Leanne Hughson issued Jian Xue Gan with his licence after he was the first person to renew his licence by completing the CPD Skills Maintenance program in 2022.

“Putting CPD in place has been a huge effort from everyone within the industry,” Leanne says.

“We are pleased to reach this milestone where Jian is the first to complete CPD as part of his licence renewal.”

Led by Energy Safe with resources developed by education provider Future Energy Skills, the program was launched in August last year and had a committee made up of Energy Safe, the Electrical Trades Union, the National Electrical and Communications Association and the Institute of Electrical Inspectors.

The course operates in a classroom environment and is available at metropolitan and regional locations, run by carefully-selected educational providers with Jian completing his course at the Centre For U in North Melbourne.

“My CPD training was not at all scary, and it was very helpful to be able to refresh my knowledge of key regulations and safety issues,” Jian says.

“I would urge my fellow licence holders to book in for their CPD in good time, and I am sure they will enjoy it very much, as I did.”

So far about 1,000 electrical licence holders have completed their Skills Maintenance training. More than 8,000 workers from the electrotechnology, renewable and new energy sectors are expected to complete the eight-hour training in 2023 to 24 as a requirement of their electrical licence renewal.

Skills Maintenance provides training on a range of topics, including safe isolation, mandatory testing, industry changes, and the responsibilities of licensed workers.

CPD will also add a Skills Development component later this year which will equip licence holders with new skills, such as renewable energy technologies.

Energy Safe aims to ensure all electrical workers go home safe at the end of the working day with CPD playing a critical role in updating them on changes to Australian Standards, regulations and new technology.