NSW's Brightest Sparks awarded

The winners of the New South Wales Brightest Spark competition have been announced at a presentation ceremony in Sydney this afternoon.

Apprentices with the top scores in Master Electricians Australia’s (MEA’s) online safety test were crowned the Brightest Sparks of their apprentice year at HPM Legrand’s manufacturing warehouse in Prestons, NSW.

The winners are:

• 1st year apprentice: Mason Bell, 18, from Demaher in Port Kembla
• 2nd year apprentice: Jonathan Carroll, 24, from Eraring Energy in Lake Macquarie
• 3rd year apprentice: Russell Micallef, 27, from Railcorp in Lawson
• 4th year apprentice: Aaron Alam, 20, from Laser Electrical in Castle Hill

Safety is important simply because it saves lives, said fourth-year apprentice winner Aaron Alam. “It’s often the smallest and easiest things you can do which make the biggest difference to the safety outcome, like taking an extra 30 seconds to put on a harness,” Alam said.

MEA CEO Malcolm Richards said he was confident the state’s apprentices would now be more cautious and knowledgeable when working with electrics.

“Too many apprentices have been involved in electrical safety incidents in the last year which could have been easily avoided through employing proper safety precautions in the workplace,” Richards said.

“We’re really hoping that with initiatives like the Brightest Spark competition we can break the trend of practising bad electrical safety habits and trigger apprentices state-wide to be more aware of electrical safety.”

Thousands of dollars’ worth of electrical equipment from Lawrence & Hanson and HPM Legrand was awarded to the winning apprentices and their bosses.

“Each young sparkie has taken home a fantastic prize pack and we’ve made sure they stay in their boss’s good books by providing great prizes for their employers too!” said Richards.

“No one can afford to muck around when it comes to electrical safety. Apprentices are the future of our industry and MEA is committed to championing safety, excellence and confidence in our sector.”