Safety advice

Safety of the community and those working around our electricity network is of high importance. Whether you’re on a building site, working on a farm, driving a truck or operating machinery, there is the potential for accidental powerline contact.

Powerline Safety Planning Tool

To help you plan ahead and take appropriate actions to safely work around powerlines, visit our Powerline Safety Planning Tool - an interactive map that displays powerline locations and imagery.

The planning tool can help you plan your work near powerlines to minimise contact with powerlines to help reduce the risk of injury or death from electrocution and damage to equipment and our electricity network. Plus, you can request safety advice, organise de-energisiation or relocation of powerlines and the application of powerline markers.

It's a simple tool to assist you to safely plan and/or perform work around the electricity network by displaying:

• Powerline locations and imagery via an interactive geospatial map
• Powerline safety guidelines, including exclusion zones from powerlines
• Options available while planning and/or performing work (such as the erection of powerline warning markers or relocation services)
• Other important information, including contact details.

Obtaining written safety advice

Where a risk assessment's been done and control measures are in place, but exclusion zones from overhead powerlines can't be maintained, ask for Safety Advice to ensure the safety of workers.

To obtain a written safety advice you can either:

1. Call us on 13 74 66 (Mon to Fri, 7am - 5:30pm), or
2. Email the Safety Advice Request Form (PDF 57.3 kb).

We'll contact you once the completed request form has been received, to arrange a suitable date and time to meet on site.

Bring  your copy of the Code of Practice 2010 Working Near Overhead and Underground Electric Lines (and Dial Before You Dig Plan for location of underground assets where required) to the onsite meeting, as you'll need to refer to them during the meeting.

Provision of written Safety Advice and/or other control measures by us may incur a fee.

Failure to comply with the Regulation or with Safety Advice given by the owner of the powerline may result in details being forwarded to the Electrical Safety Office.

Frequently asked questions

Download our Frequently Asked Questions (PDF 69.6 kb)

More information

These documents are provided as guidance/reference material and the person, worker or PCBU retains responsibility for ensuring that they're meeting their duties under the relevant legislation.

• Electricity Entity Requirements – Working Around Overhead and Underground Electric Lines (PDF 725.9 kb).
• Safety advice request form (PDF 57.3 kb)
• Important notice regarding safety advice (PDF 35.1 kb)
• Decorative painting of Ergon Energy assets (PDF 187.5 kb)
• Order form - Look up and Live Brochures & Stickers