One of the target roles on this website is called "high-voltage specialist", and elsewhere the site says plainly that target roles are company role profiles, not recognised occupations. That is true, and it is only half the answer. Behind the role name sits a level model that the company did not write. The German statutory accident insurers did, and it is the model a safety officer, a works council and, if it comes to that, an inspector will use to judge whether the qualification was enough.
Where the model comes from
DGUV Information 209-093, "Qualifizierung für Arbeiten an Fahrzeugen mit Hochvoltsystemen" (qualification for work on vehicles with high-voltage systems), was published in August 2021 by the Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung together with the German motor trade association ZDK, with manufacturers and suppliers involved. It replaces the 2012 predecessor, 200-005. A DGUV Information is not a statute. It describes how the accident insurers expect qualification for this work to be organised, and it sets minimum scopes. Anyone who stays below them has some explaining to do.
High voltage is a defined term in the document: under definition 1, voltages above 60 volts up to 1500 volts DC, or above 30 volts up to 1000 volts AC, as found in battery-electric and hybrid vehicles. An HV system consists of at least two HV components.
The document has two level models with the same logic and different scopes: one for series vehicles in service, in section 5, with levels S, 1S, 2S and 3S, and one for research, development and production, in section 4, with levels E, 1E, 2E and 3E. For a plant that builds drivetrains, the second section applies. The distinction is not cosmetic, because the minimum scopes differ.
The four levels in production
Level E is the sensitised person. They operate vehicles and equipment, charge, clean, and are told how to use the vehicle as intended. There is no examination.
Level 1E is the instructed person ("fachkundig unterwiesene Person"). They may carry out general work on the vehicle that does not directly touch the HV system, such as changing wheels or oil, and must be instructed for it by a qualified person. The instruction must expressly cover that work on HV components is not permitted. The scope is at least 2 teaching units, depending on the nature and extent of the work, and the instruction must be documented.
Level 2E is the qualified HV person, abbreviated FHV in the document. They may work on HV systems in the de-energised state and must be able to establish that state themselves, by manufacturer instruction or by applying at least the first three of the "five safety rules". Competence is demonstrated by examination and kept current through regular training. The minimum scope depends on prior knowledge, of which more in a moment.
Level 3E is the qualified person for work on live HV components: fault-finding under voltage, work on energy storage, high-voltage testing under a work instruction. Here the document sets personal preconditions that must be proven before the measure starts: a level 2E qualification, a minimum age of 18, a completed first-aid course including CPR of 9 teaching units under DGUV Information 204-022, no health restrictions that would create hazards in this work, and at least one year of practical experience in the automotive or electrical field shortly before the training. The scope is at least 24 teaching units of classroom training, at least 16 of them practical. And because live work counts as dangerous work within the meaning of section 8 of DGUV Vorschrift 1, a second person is generally required, at least an instructed person trained in first aid.
Same level, three different scopes
The part of the document that reaches deepest into the planning of a qualification wave is the way the minimum scope for level 2E is staggered by the prior knowledge of the employee. A teaching unit ("Unterrichtseinheit", UE) is defined in definition 15 as 45 minutes.
| Entry route under section 4.1.4 | Minimum scope | of which practical |
|---|---|---|
| A: no electrical background, with a technical apprenticeship | 100 UE | 16 UE |
| B: electrical background in the vehicle field, such as automotive mechatronics or automotive electrics | 48 UE | 16 UE |
| C: an electrical apprenticeship or degree, such as industrial electronics or electrical engineering | 24 UE | 16 UE |
| D: theoretical electrical foundations, for instance from a degree course | to be determined individually | 16 UE |
All four routes end with an examination, and in all four every participant must complete practical exercises. The figures are minimums "depending on the nature and extent of the work"; the document expressly requires the content to be adapted to the actual tasks.
For a role cluster this means: the target level is the same for everyone, the way there is not. A "drivetrain assembly" cluster in which production mechanics stand next to automotive mechatronics technicians and electronics technicians is heading for the same level 2E and needs three different measures of 100, 48 and 24 teaching units to get there. That is precisely the "comparable starting qualification" criterion by which a cluster should be cut in the first place, confirmed here from an outside document. Whoever puts the three groups into one cohort plans 76 units too many for the electronics technicians or 76 too few for the mechanics.
Which work needs which level
The second planning-relevant part is section 4.2, which walks through production itself. It is the reason not everyone on a line with HV components has to become a qualified person.
Assembly often consists of repetitive work which, under section 4.2.1, instructed persons can also perform, provided binding, standardised work instructions exist whose technical correctness a qualified person has checked. Line managers can take on supervision on that basis. For repetitive assembly work the target level is therefore 1E, not 2E, once the instructions are in place and checked.
For commissioning, the document distinguishes by whether complete protection against contact and arc flash exists. With complete protection, an instructed person following a standardised procedure is sufficient. Without it, only employees at level 3E may work. Rework without intervention in the HV system stays at level 1E; rework with a fault in the HV system requires level 2E, and where fault-finding under voltage becomes necessary, level 3E.
For electrical tests in the production process, such as insulation and voltage measurements, section 4.2.3 says: if the de-energised state cannot be ensured, level 3E. For tests with complete contact and arc-flash protection, level 2E is necessary if the measurement result has to be evaluated, and level 1E if it does not. That is the line that touches automated end-of-line testing: the person who operates the station and passes the result on stands at a different level from the person who judges it.
What the apprenticeship already brings
For the service sector, that is for the level model in section 5, the document says expressly which apprenticeship already contains which level. Anyone who completed the Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker apprenticeship under the ordinance of 14 June 2013 in the specialisations passenger car technology, commercial vehicle technology, motorcycle technology or body technology holds level 2S. Anyone who completed it in the specialisation "System- und Hochvolttechnik" already holds level 3S. Body and vehicle construction mechanics under the ordinance of 10 June 2014 are qualified to level 2S if a one-week inter-company course with a passed high-voltage competence examination is added.
For production, section 4.1.4 is more cautious: qualification to level 2E takes place "taking into account the individual electrical knowledge already acquired". Assigning an employee to an entry route is therefore a determination made in the plant, and it belongs in the role profile, not in the line manager's memory.
What follows for a role profile
Three things, and all three come before a provider is selected.
First, the level is a property of the work, not of the person. At every point the document asks what work is to be done and derives the level from that. A role profile describing the target role must therefore say whether the role intervenes in the HV system or works alongside it, and whether it evaluates measurement results or only produces them. Without that, "high-voltage specialist" is a name without a level.
Second, prior knowledge decides the measure. A cluster with mixed starting qualifications is not one cohort for this target role but two or three, and cohort size decides whether a provider comes to the plant or employees travel.
Third, level 3E and live work have preconditions that have nothing to do with training: age, first aid, medical fitness, a year of experience, a second person at the workstation. A target role that requires 3E is therefore also a question of work organisation, and for the fitness assessment the document itself points to individual or collective agreements as the legal basis.
What is not here
This article reproduces the level model and the minimum scopes of DGUV Information 209-093. It replaces neither the risk assessment the document presumes for every activity nor the decision of the responsible qualified lead about the scope a specific measure needs. The figures are minimums in teaching units of 45 minutes, not clock hours, and say nothing about any form of funding. Whether a specific task on a specific line falls under the document is settled by its scope in section 1, which excludes, among others, rail-guided vehicles and equipment covered by the Machinery Directive.
Sources
- DGUV Information 209-093, Qualifizierung für Arbeiten an Fahrzeugen mit Hochvoltsystemen, August 2021 edition, sections 1, 2, 4.1, 4.2 and 5.1.4. Publisher: Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung e. V.
- DGUV Vorschrift 1, Grundsätze der Prävention, section 8, and DGUV Information 204-022, Erste Hilfe im Betrieb, each as referenced in DGUV Information 209-093.
- Ordinance on vocational training as Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker of 14 June 2013, as referenced in DGUV Information 209-093.