Plumbing practitioners need to familiarise themselves with the changes made to Plumbing Regulations 2018 on 18 October 2022.
The amendments include:
- Removing the need to hold a Restricted Electrical Worker's Licence (Class 2) as a pre-requisite of gaining qualification in Type A appliance servicing work.
- Confirming that the 2018 editions of AS/NZS 3500 Parts 1 to 4 and 2008 edition of AS/NZS 4234 must be used instead of the latest 2021 version.
- Correcting a number of minor referencing errors and other administrative changes.
Restricted Electrical Worker's Licence and Type A appliance servicing work
Practitioners applying for accreditation in the specialised class of Type A Appliance Servicing Work will no longer be required to hold a Restricted Electrical Workers Licence (Class 2) as a prerequisite. All other registration and licensing requirements remain unchanged.
These changes were made when concerns were raised that the restricted electrical licence (REL) requirement has been a barrier to plumbers taking out this specialised class.
Although the requirement to hold this REL reflects that some servicing jobs do require plumbers to isolate, disconnect and reconnect the appliance from the electricity supply, most servicing jobs do not require this function.
Despite this change, the electrical safety regulations administered by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) remain unchanged. This means that if a gas servicing job requires the electrical disconnection and reconnection of the appliance, the gasfitter must hold the ESV REL or electrician's licence, or alternatively an electrician needs to be engaged to undertake the electrical work involved in the service job.
AS/NZS 3500 Parts 1 to 4 and AS/NZ 4234
The existing transitional arrangements for AS/NZS 3500 Parts 1 to 4 and AS/NZ 4234, communicated to plumbers in September 2022, remain unchanged.
In September, following the decision to delay the adoption of the 2022 edition of the National Construction Code (NCC), the VBA extended the existing transition period for revised standards AS/NZS 3500 parts 1 to 4, before they need to be applied to plumbing practices on 1 May 2023.
In addition, the extension period for AS/NZS 4234 was extended to align with the transition period for new energy efficiency requirements proposed in NCC 2022 and will commence on 1 October 2023.
Referencing errors and administrative changes
The following administrative changes have been made:
- Revoking the definitions of class 1, class 1a, class 10a and network utility operator as these are already defined in the Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA).
- Correcting a reference under Regulation 6 (7) of the Plumbing Regulations 2018.
- Correcting a reference under Clause 12 (2) of Schedule 2 of the Plumbing Regulations 2018 so that it references the right clause in the PCA.
