Electrical Qualifications and their Scope

The following electrical qualifications are defined in the Electrical Safety Act:

  • Electrical qualification 1, S1: all electrical works
  • Electrical qualification 2, S2: up to 1000 V electrical works
  • Electrical qualification 3, S3: repair of electrical equipment.

Earlier certificates of qualification (A, B, C, D) that were issued before the legislative reform in 1996 remain valid in the scope they were granted.

 

Requirements for a certificate of qualification

Certificates of qualification are issued by Henkilö- ja yritysarviointi SETI Oy.

In order to be granted a certificate of qualification you must have:

  • suitable education in the electrical field
  • suitable electrical working experience
  • passed the electrical safety examination (Electrical safety examination page on tukes.fi, in Finnish and Swedish).

In addition to the electrical safety examination, the minimum requirements for the certificates of qualification are as follows:

  • Electrical qualification 2, S2: applicable education, such as electrician’s basic degree, followed by three years of experience in work familiarising oneself with the building of electrical equipment and work supervision.
  • Electrical qualification 3, S3: the education can be replaced by applicable work experience.
  • Electrical qualification 1, S1: at least a technician’s or engineer’s training, and sufficiently extensive two-year work experience.
  • Limited electrical qualification 1: senior electrician’s special professional degree and at least six years if work experience

 

Scope of electrical qualification 3

Category S3 certificate of qualification is a installation repair qualification, and does not entitle the holder to carry out extensive electrical installation work.

What work is a category S3 contractor allowed to perform?

Removing and re-attaching electrical installations up to 1,000V, and replacing broken electrical installations fall within the scope of a category S3 qualification. An S3 contractor is permitted to install a single branch circuit from a switchboard or an installation box for a repaired or newly installed electrical installation, such as an air source heat pump or an aggregate (e.g. lifting door), without changing the structure of the switchboard.

Electrical work that requires the installation of multiple electrical installations and cables into an installation entity cannot be carried out by a category S3 contractor.

There are a few exceptions when the electrical works authorisation is not needed:

  • everyman work
  • a couple of other exceptions under certain conditions (Electrical Safety Act 1135/2016, Section 56):
    • electrical work on the power system of electric vehicles: the person carrying out the work should be adequately familiar with the electrical system of the vehicle model in question and the dangers related to electricity
    • work performed as part of the laying of underground cables that includes the lowering of the cable in the cable trench and burying or ploughing it under supervision of an electrical contractor: the person performing the work should have at least two years of experience for the work in question and basic skills in the field
    • minor one-off electrical work that is performed by a person possessing a certificate of qualification, installation of an individual socket outlet or light point, for example
    • construction of temporary electrical installations for teaching purposes, if the work is performed in a laboratory of an education institution and supervised by an electrically skilled person
    • electrical work performed by an electrically skilled person, that is directed at the electrical installation in a dwelling that is controlled by the person in question or close relatives, i.e. work performed with a certificate of qualification. Certificates of qualification are issued by SETI Oy and the work must be verification inspected.

Electrically skilled person

An electrically skilled person is a person who has received instruction in electrical and operational work corresponding to his or her training and work experience and is considered to possess adequate professional skills for supervising and performing such work. An electrically skilled person has received instruction in electrical work and has:

  • a suitable higher education degree in the technical field and six months’ work experience in electrical work, or
  • a suitable electrical engineer’s or technician’s degree and six months’ work experience in electrical work, or
  • a suitable vocational upper secondary qualification, further vocational qualification, specialist vocational qualification or a similar qualification obtained before that and six months’ work experience in electrical work, or
  • a suitable vocational upper secondary qualification or a similar qualification obtained before that and one year's work experience in electrical work, or
  • six years’ work experience in electrical work and adequate basic knowledge of the sector.

In electrical and operational work on similar type of electrical equipment, or on electrical installation packages, such as maintenance and repair work on electrical equipment, less strict education and work experience standards may be applied.

  In such cases, a person with two years’ work experience in the electrical work in question and adequate basic knowledge of the sector is considered to possess adequate professional skills for performing such work independently.

 If the person has suitable electrical training, he or she must also have one year's work experience in the electrical work in question.