Supervision ratios by trade in South Dakota
Who must supervise an apprentice on the job in South Dakota, and how does it differ by trade?
Supervision is set trade by trade, not state-wide
South Dakota has no single apprenticeship supervision law. The electrical trade gets its rule from the Electrical Commission, plumbing from the Plumbing Commission, barbershops from the Board of Barber Examiners, and a registered apprenticeship program gets its ratio from its own federal standards.
The differences are not small. Electrical work splits the duty by job site. Plumbing relaxes it by credential and building type. Barbering attaches it to the shop, not the worker. Cosmetology never grants it at all, because there is no apprentice to supervise.
This page sets each rule beside the others. Read it before you staff a job, not after an inspection.
The chapters behind them scatter too. Electrical licensing sits in SDCL Chapter 36-16 with rules in ARSD Article 20:44, barbering in SDCL Chapter 36-14 with ARSD 20:39, and cosmetology in SDCL Chapter 36-15 with ARSD 20:42. One state, three code books, and no shared supervision section.
The laws governing South Dakota electrical wiring licenses are in SDCL Chapter 36-16, with the administrative rules in ARSD Article 20:44. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
The laws governing South Dakota barbers and barbershops are in SDCL Chapter 36-14, with the administrative rules in ARSD 20:39. — South Dakota Board of Barber Examiners, retrieved 2026-09-29
Statutes covering South Dakota cosmetology are in SDCL Chapter 36-15, with the administrative rules in ARSD 20:42. — South Dakota Cosmetology Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
Electrical: on site for commercial, daily otherwise
The baseline is the statute. Under SDCL 36-16-21, an electrical apprentice may not be allowed to work on an installation without personal supervision, and the apprentice must register with the State Electrical Commission.
The administrative rule sharpens it by project type. On commercial sites or projects, the apprentice must be personally supervised on site by an electrician holding one of the license classes the statute lists. On other than commercial projects, the standard is daily personal supervision, and the Class B electrician is added to the acceptable supervisors.
The rule writes the staffing plan for you. A commercial crew needs a licensed supervisor present in the room. A residential crew can stretch further, but the supervisor must still see the apprentice daily.
Under SDCL 36-16-21, an electrical apprentice may not be allowed to work on an installation without personal supervision. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, SDCL 36-16-21, retrieved 2026-09-29
Under ARSD 20:44:16:05, apprentices on commercial sites must be personally supervised on site by a licensee, and on other projects must have daily personal supervision. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, ARSD 20:44:16:05, retrieved 2026-09-29
The apprentice may not be allowed to work on an installation without personal supervision.
Plumbing: supervision ends at a credential, on one building type
Plumbing supervision relaxes by license rather than by job site. Apprentice plumbers with two years, 3,800 hours, under a plumbing contractor may work without supervision during their third and fourth years, but only on single family dwellings and only after satisfactorily passing a state-administered examination.
Before that credential, the supervision sits with the contractor. The plumber's license itself is earned through four apprentice years spent working under a plumbing contractor, which is the relationship the commission's experience rules describe.
The exception is narrower than it reads. Single family dwellings only means a third-year apprentice on apartments, commercial fit-outs, or anything else still needs the contractor's supervision, the same as day one.
3,800 hoursApprentice plumbers with two years, 3,800 hours, under a contractor may work without supervision in years three and four, only on single family dwellings and only after passing a state exam. — South Dakota Plumbing Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
1,900 hours per yearA South Dakota plumber's license requires four years' experience as an apprentice plumber with at least 1,900 hours per year. — South Dakota Plumbing Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
Beauty trades: the shop is supervised, and there is no apprentice
Barbering attaches supervision to the premises. A barbershop must at all times be under the direct supervision and management of a registered barber, whether or not the owner holds a license.
Below that, South Dakota barbering has no apprentice tier. The registered barber license requires 1,500 hours in an approved school and the state's two examinations, and the old apprentice barber certificate of registration was repealed from the rules.
Cosmetology supervises nothing, because it trains nobody on the job. The Commission only accepts training documentation from schools or providers it licenses, so there is no apprentice whose supervision a salon owner owes.
A South Dakota barbershop must at all times be under the direct supervision and management of a registered barber. — South Dakota Board of Barber Examiners, retrieved 2026-09-29
1,500 hoursUnder SDCL 36-14-13, a registered barber completes 1,500 hours of education in a barber college or school approved by the board and passes the board's written and practical examinations. — South Dakota Board of Barber Examiners, SDCL 36-14-13, retrieved 2026-09-29
The renewal fee for an apprentice barber certificate of registration, ARSD 20:39:05:02, was repealed. — South Dakota Board of Barber Examiners, ARSD 20:39:05:02, retrieved 2026-09-29
The registered program: a ratio you write yourself
A registered apprenticeship program carries a supervision duty it must state in numbers. Federal standards require a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers, consistent with proper supervision, training, safety, and continuity of employment, and specific as to job site, workforce, department or plant.
The same standards require assurance of qualified training personnel and adequate supervision on the job. The ratio is the program's own rule, approved with its registration, not a number the state hands down.
That makes the ratio a drafting decision. A sponsor who writes one apprentice per journeyworker into commercial work and a looser ratio for residential has mirrored the electrical trade's own logic in program form.
| Trade | Who supervises | Where the rule relaxes |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | A licensee, on site commercially, daily otherwise | Nowhere, until the journeyman license |
| Plumbing | A plumbing contractor | Year three, single family dwellings, after the exam |
| Barbering | A registered barber manages the shop | Never below the shop duty |
| Cosmetology | No apprentice exists to supervise | Not applicable |
| Registered program | Journeyworkers at the program's stated ratio | Only where the program's standards say so |
Federal standards require a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers, specific as to job site, workforce, department or plant. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Federal standards require assurance of qualified training personnel and adequate supervision on the job. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Under-18 apprentices carry a stricter rule
A 16- or 17-year-old apprentice is supervised twice. Federal child labor rules bar hazardous work for minors, and the exception for youth apprenticeships is conditional.
The criteria, as the state's own federal youth labor FAQ lays them out, require that the youth is employed in a craft recognized as an apprentice-able trade, that hazardous work is incidental to the training, that it is intermittent and for short periods, under 20 percent of the time, and that it is performed under the direct and close supervision of a journeyman.
That is stricter than the electrical rule for adults. An adult apprentice on a commercial site needs an on-site licensed supervisor. A 17-year-old needs direct and close supervision from a journeyman, and a written registered apprenticeship agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor. The under-18 page takes the full set.
under 20 percentA 16- or 17-year-old in a youth apprenticeship may do hazardous work only when intermittent, under 20 percent of the time, and under the direct and close supervision of a journeyman. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Federal Youth Labor Laws FAQ, retrieved 2026-09-29
A youth apprenticeship exists when the youth is employed under a written Registered Apprenticeship agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Federal Youth Labor Laws FAQ, retrieved 2026-09-29
Staffing against the rules that bind you
Read the two rules that apply to you and ignore the rest. An electrical contractor staffing a commercial site needs a licensed supervisor per apprentice on site, on top of any program ratio. A plumbing contractor needs a plan for which crew member holds the third-year licenses.
A salon or barbershop owner has no apprentice staffing decision at all. The duty runs to the shop, and the training runs through schools, so the hiring page for those trades is a school's enrollment window.
If you are building the crew rather than joining one, the hiring guide covers the paperwork that follows the supervision decision, and the pay page covers the rising wage scale a registered program adds on top.
For an electrical contractor, the staffing rule is the on-site duty, and it holds from the apprentice's first hour to the journeyman exam eight thousand hours later. For a salon or barbershop owner, the trade has already answered the staffing question by placing training in the schools.
8,000 hoursThe State Electrical Commission requires four years as a licensed apprentice, a total of 8,000 hours, before the journeyman exam. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
The South Dakota Cosmetology Commission only accepts training and education documentation from schools or providers it licenses or certifies. — South Dakota Cosmetology Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Does South Dakota set a fixed apprentice-to-journeyman ratio?
Only inside a registered apprenticeship program, and the sponsor writes the number. Federal standards require a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers in the program's own standards. The state trade licenses impose supervision duties instead, like the electrical on-site rule.
Can a third-year plumbing apprentice supervise a first-year apprentice?
No. The third-year apprentice license lifts supervision on the holder's own work, on single family dwellings, after the state exam. It does not convert the holder into a supervisor for anyone else.
Whose supervision does a minor apprentice need on a commercial site?
The stricter of the two rules. The electrical rule requires an on-site licensed supervisor, and the federal youth rules require direct and close supervision by a journeyman plus a written registered apprenticeship agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Does a barbershop owner need a barber license to satisfy the supervision rule?
No. South Dakota does not require the owner to be a licensed barber, but the shop must at all times be under the direct supervision and management of a registered barber who works there.
Do these rules apply to a helper who is not registered as anything?
In electrical work, the statute covers anyone working as an apprentice, which the statute defines by learning under a licensed supervisor's employment. Calling a helper a helper does not lift the supervision duty, and unregistered hours do not count toward the exams.