The wrong circuit gets isolated
Board labelling is frequently wrong, especially in older and altered installations. Proving dead at the point of work is what catches it, and it is the step most often skipped.
Electrical Work JSA (NZ)
Isolation, lock-out, and proving dead at the point of work — with live work treated as the exception that has to be justified in writing rather than the shortcut that gets taken because the board is in another building.
⚖️HSWA + GRWM Regs 5–7
👷Reviewed by OH Professionals
✏️Editable .docx
NZD 99
Instant DownloadInstant download · Editable .docx
Electrical fatalities in New Zealand cluster around a small number of failures, and they are not exotic: the wrong circuit was isolated, the isolation was not proven dead at the point of work, someone else re-energised the circuit, or the work was done live because isolating was inconvenient. This JSA is built around those four, with the test-prove-test sequence and the lock-out record as required fields rather than assumed practice.
Someone else switches it back on
Isolation without a personal lock and tag is an arrangement, not a control. The template records the lock, the tag and who holds the key.
Live work by default rather than by decision
Working live because de-energising would disrupt the tenant is a decision that needs to be made deliberately, documented, and controlled — not arrived at on site.
Who this is for
- Registered electricians and electrical contractors
- Task-level analysis for installation, alteration, fault-finding and maintenance work.
- Electrical crews on commercial sites
- Submit with your SSSP where the main contractor requires a task analysis per high-risk activity.
- Maintenance and facilities teams
- Switchboard work and plant isolation in occupied buildings.
- Solar and EV charger installers
- Work combining electrical risk with work at height and DC systems that cannot simply be switched off.
Electrical work at height or in a confined space needs the additional analysis for those conditions — the hazards compound rather than substitute.
What's inside the template
Word — 15 pages (pre-populated JSA + isolation records + forms) · Formats: DOCX
- Section 1 — Task and scopeWork described, installation age and type, supply arrangement, occupancy, and whether the premises can be de-energised.
- Section 2 — Competence and registrationRegistration class held, supervision arrangements, and confirmation the work is within scope of registration.
- Section 3 — Can the work be done de-energised?The elimination question. Where the answer is no, the justification is written here and authorised.grwm 6
- Section 4 — Pre-populated step analysisIdentify circuit, isolate, lock and tag, prove dead, work, restore, test and energise — each with hazards and controls drafted.grwm 5
- Section 5 — Isolation and lock-out recordIsolation point, method, lock and tag reference, key holder, and the person who verified.
- Section 6 — Proving deadTest-prove-test sequence at the point of work, with instrument type, proving unit and the person who tested recorded.
- Section 7 — Live work controlsWhere live work is authorised: insulated tools, matting, gloves, restricted access, second person, and the abort criteria.
- Section 8 — Stored and secondary energyCapacitors, UPS, generators, solar arrays and battery systems that remain live after the main supply is isolated.
- Section 9 — Arc flash and burn riskWhere the risk arises, clothing and equipment selection, and approach distances.
- Section 10 — RCD protection and portable equipmentSupply protection for tools and leads, and inspection status.
- Section 11 — Others on sitePreventing re-energisation by another trade or an occupant, signage and access control.hswa 34
- Section 12 — Emergency responseElectric shock response, rescue without becoming a second casualty, and mandatory post-shock medical assessment.
- Section 13 — Pre-start and crew sign-onChanges since the JSA was written, and every person signing on.
- Appendix A — Isolation certificateStandalone record for multi-day or multi-person isolations.
- Appendix B — Live work authorisation formThe written justification, authorised by a named person before work starts.
Compliance checklist
HSWA 2015 ss.30, 34, 36 · GRWM Regulations 2016 regs 5–7
A Job Safety Analysis is not a named statutory document in New Zealand — unlike an Australian SWMS, no regulation requires one by that name. Its weight comes from the duties it discharges, and from the fact that main contractors and prequalification schemes treat it as the expected evidence that a high-risk task was thought through before it started.
- GRWM reg 5Identify hazards that could give rise to reasonably foreseeable risks to health and safety→ Step-by-step breakdown — hazards identified against each step rather than for the task as a whole
- GRWM reg 6Eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable; otherwise minimise by substitution, isolation, engineering, then administrative controls, then PPE→ Control column — every control declares its hierarchy level
- GRWM reg 7Ensure control measures are effective and maintained so they remain effective→ Verification and pre-start review sections
- HSWA s36Primary duty of care — ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable→ Residual risk assessment and the sign-on record
- HSWA s34Consult, cooperate and coordinate with other PCBUs where duties overlap→ Interfacing trades section — who else is affected by this task and how it is coordinated
How this template compares
The most common alternative in New Zealand is an Australian SWMS with the branding changed. It is worth being precise about why that is a problem.
Reviewed by OH Professionals
Written and reviewed by the occupational health and safety team at OH Consultant. These are drafted as New Zealand Job Safety Analyses, not as Australian SWMS with the terminology swapped. That distinction is substantive: a SWMS is an instrument created by Australian WHS regulation for high-risk construction work, with prescribed content and a statutory trigger. New Zealand has no equivalent provision, so a document presented as a "NZ SWMS" is citing a requirement that does not exist here.
Legislation referenced
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 — Section 30 — Management of risks ↗
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 — Section 34 — Duty of PCBUs to consult, cooperate, and coordinate ↗
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 — Section 36 — Primary duty of care ↗
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 — Regulation 5 — Duty to identify hazards ↗
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 — Regulation 6 — Hierarchy of control measures ↗
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 — Regulation 7 — Duty to maintain control measures ↗
Frequently asked
Does this replace my electrical certification obligations?+
No, and it is not intended to. Certificates of Compliance, Electrical Safety Certificates and Records of Inspection are prescribed electrical regulatory documents concerned with whether the installation is safe. A JSA is a work health and safety document concerned with whether the people doing the work are safe. Both apply and neither substitutes for the other.
Why is proving dead treated as its own step?+
Because isolating and proving dead are different actions and the second is the one that catches the error in the first. Board labelling is unreliable in altered installations. The test-prove-test sequence — test the instrument on a known source, test the conductors, test the instrument again — is what confirms both the circuit and the instrument.
Does the template allow live work?+
It allows it where it is genuinely justified, and requires that justification in writing and authorised by a named person before work starts. The point is not to prohibit live work, which is sometimes unavoidable — it is to prevent it happening by default because de-energising would have been inconvenient.
What about solar and battery systems?+
Section 8 covers stored and secondary energy specifically. A PV array generates whenever there is light and cannot be switched off at source, and battery systems remain live after the main supply is isolated. This is the most common gap in electrical JSAs written before those systems were common.
Is a JSA the same as a SWMS?+
In substance they do the same job — break a task into steps and assign hazards and controls to each. In law they are not the same. A SWMS is an Australian instrument required by Australian WHS regulation for high-risk construction work, with prescribed content. New Zealand has no equivalent provision, which is why the NZ convention is Job Safety Analysis or Task Analysis. If a supplier is selling you a "New Zealand SWMS", they are selling you an Australian document.
Is a JSA legally required in New Zealand?+
Not by name. What is required is that you identify hazards under GRWM Regulation 5, apply controls in the hierarchy order under Regulation 6, and keep them effective under Regulation 7. A JSA is how those duties are discharged at task level, and main contractors and prequalification schemes ask for it as a matter of course.
How does this relate to my SSSP?+
The SSSP is the project-level plan covering how health and safety is managed across the whole site. Job Safety Analyses sit underneath it — one per higher-risk task. On a typical job you have one SSSP and several JSAs, and the SSSP indexes them.
Who should complete and sign it?+
Someone competent in the work, with the crew who will actually do the task involved in developing it rather than handed a finished document. The sign-on section records that involvement, which is the part that distinguishes a JSA that was used from one that was filed.
How often does it need reviewing?+
Before each use, at minimum as a pre-start check for anything that has changed — different site conditions, different plant, different crew, weather. The pre-start section exists for that. A full review is warranted after any incident involving the task, or when the method or equipment changes.
Can I edit it for my business?+
Yes — it ships as an editable .docx with a single-buyer licence covering use across your own business and its projects. It is a starting point that reflects standard practice for the task, not a substitute for assessing the specific job in front of you. It is not licensed for resale or redistribution as your own template product.