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What you may do, what you need to be able to document, and what the workplace requires
You work with electricity, control and machines that can cause damage if handled incorrectly. Therefore the trade is surrounded by rules – both for what you must be able to document and for what you may work with independently. It is important to know the framework so you know when you can act yourself and when a task requires special rights.
Your formal proof that you are qualified to work in the trade is your journeyman certificate. It is issued when you have passed the final examination and completed your training, and it documents that you have the competences appropriate to your specialty – such as setting up, programming, troubleshooting and maintaining automatic systems at a professionally sound level.
Through education you must typically complete a number of mandatory safety courses before you can perform specific tasks. This includes certificates within occupational health and safety as well as courses related to working close to live parts.
Work on electrical installations is in Denmark an area requiring authorization. This does not mean that you as an automation technician do not work with electricity — you do to a great extent — but that certain installation tasks must be performed under a company's authorization and according to the rules that apply there. The specialty automation technician in the electrical industry is directed precisely at work in the electrical industry. Know the limits at your workplace for what you may perform independently and what must be done under authorization.
When you build rebuild or put automatic systems into operation you work in a field where machine safety and CE marking mean something. The person who puts a system into operation has responsibility that safety functions like emergency stop shielding and fail-safe controls work as they should. You must understand how these functions work and why you never disable them to make a task faster.
Much of the trade's rules concern traceability: electrical diagrams, component labelling, and documentation of what has been changed on an installation. Good documentation is not just paperwork – it is what allows the next technician (perhaps you a year from now) to troubleshoot safely. Always follow the company's standard for how changes are recorded.