Supervision

As a supervisor, you must determine what level of direction and control to use for your supervisee on every job.

If your supervisee is an apprentice in their first 12 months or is working under an exemption in their first 24 months, they must only work in your presence or the presence of another Tradesman or Certifier you have appointed to supervise them.

For any other supervisees, you must assess the job, the health and safety risks and your supervisee’s skills and experience and determine what level of supervision they need.

You are legally responsible for:

• Approving your status as the supervisor for apprentices, exemption holders, journeyman, and tradesmen
• testing the work of an exempt person
• testing your supervisee’s work for the purposes of certification or verification
• notifying the Board in writing if you stop supervising any person
• making sure your supervisee can produce their authorisation card on demand if requested
• making sure an exempt person doing gasfitting work does not work on live gas
• knowing what work your supervisee is doing at all times
• monitoring your supervisees skills and knowledge and providing them with on-going guidance and training.

Guide For Supervisor 2023 Example Of Completed Supervision Agreement Supervision Agreement Template With Explanation Supervision Agreement Template

A supervisee cannot:

• work if your supervisor has not approved their supervision of you
• test your work if you are working under an exemption
• test your work for the purposes of certification or verification
• work if your supervisor has notifying the Board in writing they are no longer supervising you
• work on live gas if you are working under an exemption.

Guide For Supervisee 2023

While not prohibited, the Board does not support supervision arrangements where the supervisor and supervisee are in different locations. Even with the best systems in place, things can go wrong and it is important that a supervisor can easily meet with their supervisee in person to deal with any problems. Regular face to face engagement is also an important part of teaching, monitoring and guiding supervisees. Modern technology is useful but is no substitute for being with another person and truly getting a sense of their competence and capabilities.

Situations where the supervisor and supervisee don’t work together

There are greater risks around supervision where the supervisor and the person they are supervising do not work together. In such situations, the right systems and processes will be critical to ensuring supervision is carried out properly and that both the supervisor and the supervisee are protected.

Non-work supervision arrangements should be covered by a written agreement which clearly sets out the expectations and obligations of each party and the processes that will be followed to carry out supervision. This should cover not only how the supervisor will determine what level of supervision will be required for each job, but all the other aspects of the supervision relationship as well such as how monitoring, support, guidance and training will happen.

Remote Supervision Policy March 2024 Remote Supervision Faqs

All employers are required by law to have an employment agreement with their employees. The Board recommends that all employment agreement cover what after-hours work a supervisee can carry out and under what conditions.

If after-hours work is allowed, the agreement should state that it can only be done with the supervisor’s knowledge and approval. In addition, any employer who does allow after-hours work should have a discussion with their insurance provider regarding cover for such work. If after-hours work is not permitted, the contract should forbid the employee from carrying out after-hours work. This will mean that any after-hours work that their employee carries out will be unsupervised and, as a consequence, will be unauthorised work.

Supervision Policy 29 May 2023

Supervision comes up regularly in disciplinary hearings before the Board. Some of the causes of supervisions failings in disciplinary cases have been mistakes on the supervisor’s part, poor decision-making, ignorance of supervision responsibilities, and disregard for supervision responsibilities.

Here are some key learnings from recent disciplinary cases dealing with supervision:

• A supervisor cannot rely on a supervisee telling them what work they are doing. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to know what work their supervisee is doing and ensure they are only doing work that is within their competency.
• It is not a defence to a charge of failing to properly supervise for a supervisor to say they did not know their supervisee was doing the work.
• A supervisor must have proper systems and processes in place to manage supervision. They must be able to show what these systems are and how they demonstrate the supervisor is carrying out their supervision responsibilities properly.
• Supervisors must be aware of when trainees they are supervising are still within their first 12 months of working and exempt people are still within their first 24 months and can therefore only work in their presence.
• Supervisors cannot nominate or allow a trainee or exempt person to supervise others on their behalf.
• Gasfitting supervisors cannot rely on tests results from a trainee to certify a gas installation. They must either be present and observe the trainee carrying out the testing or repeat the testing themselves.
• Supervisors need to ensure their supervisees have current licences and authorisations.