From licensed electrician to Senior Technician, Electrical in Australia
A way in from outside the industry.
What’s different
Comes in with the licence; learns medium-voltage switching under the site’s authorisations, UPS and generator systems, and working on plant that must never stop.
Skills to build
What a Senior Technician, Electrical needs. Some of it will come with your background.
Procedures and documents
- Carry out a method of procedure (MOP) Leads others
- Write and review a MOP Independent
Safe isolation
- Isolate and lock out a single energy source Leads others
- Isolate plant with several energy sources Leads others
- Prove dead before touching Leads others
- Remove isolations and restore plant Leads others
- Authorise isolations Independent
LV distribution
- Operate LV switchboards and breakers Leads others
- Trace the power path and its redundancy Leads others
- AI load swings and how they are smoothed Independent
- Connect rack power and busway Independent
- Survey electrical plant with a thermal imager Independent
- Work on in-rack DC busbars and power shelves Independent
UPS and batteries
- Put a UPS into bypass and return it Leads others
- Respond to a UPS alarm Leads others
- Battery room safety Independent
- Inspect and test batteries Independent
- Operate a flywheel UPS Independent, desirable
Power transfer and generation
- Respond to a utility failure Leads others
- Transfer and retransfer at an ATS by hand Leads others
- Coordinate load changes with the site plant or utility Independent
- Operate a static transfer switch Independent
- Operate and respond to a site battery energy storage system Independent
- Prime and behind-the-meter power Independent
- Restore the site from a black start Independent
- Start, load-test and stop a generator Independent
Leadership
- Coach and assess others Independent
MV switching
- Earth and lock MV equipment Independent
- Inspect a transformer Independent
- Prove MV equipment dead Independent
- Rack an MV circuit breaker Independent
- Read MV systems and their protection Independent
- Write and carry out a switching programme Independent
Emergency response
- Rescue from a live electrical incident Independent
- Recognise and report a suspected cyber incident Assisted
Licences it adds
- The licence of the state or territory where the site is · Required
- NSW Qualified supervisor certificate (electrical wiring work), NSW
- VIC Electrician’s licence (A Grade), Victoria
- QLD Electrical work licence (electrical mechanic), Queensland
- WA Electrician’s licence, Western Australia
- SA Electrical worker registration, South Australia
- TAS Electrical practitioner licence (electrician), Tasmania
- ACT Electrician licence (unrestricted), ACT
- NT Electrical work licence (unrestricted electrical mechanic), NT
- Provide First Aid (HLTAID011) · Usually asked for
Not legal advice: check with the regulator for your state.
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Sources and licences
- Critical Facilities reference framework © Facility Labs. (CC BY 4.0)
- Units of competency from training.gov.au, © Commonwealth of Australia, captured 2026.10. Kept as published. (Training package content, © Commonwealth of Australia: kept as published, no adapted copies)
- Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, OSCA – Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0, and its correspondence to ISCO-08. CC BY 4.0. (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)