As an employer, you want to guarantee that an employee has the necessary skills to work on an electrical installation. Therefore, you must provide appropriate training and instructions (based on the risk assessment) to the employee in question. Of course, you take into account the tasks assigned to the employee. Note that this training and these instructions cannot replace material preventive measures!
In practice, a BA4 or BA5 certificate serves to indicate as an employer for which parts of the installation and for which activities the employee is declared competent. For example, a person authorized to work on low-voltage installations without voltage will have a different qualification than someone working on a low-voltage installation under voltage, who again has a different qualification than someone working on a high-voltage installation…
There is therefore no such thing as a one-size-fits-all BA4 or BA5 person. The additional training is related to the specific work and the specific electrical installation for which the BA4/BA5 declaration of competence is granted.
In the training world, BA4/BA5 training courses are offered where participants receive a certificate of attendance. Firstly, these general courses must be supplemented with company-specific aspects. Secondly, this certificate of attendance does not replace the BA4 or BA5 certificate. It is always the employer's responsibility to draw up the BA4/BA5 certificate and declare the employee competent.
So it is you, the employer, who issues this certificate to an employee. The codes “BA4” and “BA5” are jargon and translate respectively into “warned” or “skilled”. We would like to draw attention to the fact that not every electrician is automatically BA5. The reasoning behind this is that not every electrician training course sufficiently addresses electrical risks, and the company-specific aspect is not included in these academic courses.
Who is a BA4 or warned person? This is a person who has received sufficient training regarding the electrical risks associated with the work entrusted to them, or someone who is constantly supervised by a skilled BA5 person during the work entrusted to them. The goal behind this is to minimize the risks associated with working with electricity.
And who is BA5 or skilled? These are persons who, through their knowledge – by experience or by training – can correctly assess the dangers and risks related to the electrical work to be performed and can determine measures. This again aims to minimize the risks associated with working with electricity.
The conditions for the granting of BA4/BA5 can be found in the AREI. In summary, these are the conditions:
- Employer grants the competence.
- Scope is determined with regard to the nature of the electrical installations or the work.
- Take into account:
- knowledge of electrical risks (through experience or training);
- characteristics of electrical installation (high voltage, low voltage, age of equipment, etc.);
- diversity of activities on or near electrical installations.
- Assessment must be traceable.
- Granting is recorded in a document containing:
- employee name;
- specification of activities;
- specification of electrical installations;
- special limitations;
- validity period;
- conditions for retaining competence.
- Employer takes the following into account:
- training sufficient and adapted for job or function;
- taking into account the competence of involved persons during activities;
- checking the distribution of the various tasks to be performed by persons with the required competence.
