Stopping preventable electrocution

As the team at Master Electricians Australia reaches the half-way point in its 10-year public advocacy campaign, the association is now launching an updated Switch Thinking report for 2015 to keep the ball rolling on the vital issue of mandating the installation of safety switches.

Six years have now passed since the first Home Insulation Program-related electrocution death; an East Gippsland family buried their 15-year-old son, found by his father clutching a damaged extension lead socket; and a Roebourne toddler was electrocuted while playing during a family party.

Five have passed since MEA first launched its comprehensive report into electrocution deaths, which found that 15 people were dying every year from preventable electrocution.

It’s been two years since the electrocution of an 18-year-old trade assistant in Bunbury who was helping an electrician pull cables through conduit into a roof space; and since then Queensland Coroner Michael Barnes handed down his findings into the botched insulation scheme, recommending that new laws regarding safety switches in homes “be actioned as a matter of urgency”.

Twelve months have now passed since Commissioner Ian Hanger echoed the recommendations of Coroner Barnes when handing down his findings into the ensuing Royal Commission — outlining a clear path for implementation, including a national promotional campaign and a compliance program which could be enforced when houses were sold (as was the case with swimming pool fences in some states).

And this year, after commissioning further independent research allowing us to update our 2010 Switch Thinking report for 2015, MEA has discovered that despite more than two decades of mandatory fitting and government-sponsored awareness campaigns, around 40% of homes (higher in some states) still have no safety switches at all. A much larger number of homes are protected only on the power circuits.

But in stark contrast, the independent research has also indicated that 82% of people believe safety switches should be made compulsory in all homes. Around 76% of people would be more likely to support this view if there was a government subsidy for safety switches.

However (with the exception of a Queensland Government public awareness campaign on the need for multiple safety switches), little action has actually been taken, and vital electrical safety components have still not been implemented, prompting us to again ask why, almost two decades after safety switches became mandatory on some circuits in new homes, lives can still be lost to electrocutions in Australian homes.

As we begin rolling out our newest safety switch campaign, we realise it’s going to take public awareness campaigns, intensive political lobbying, comprehensive contractor support programs and a significant media presence to effect change in this extremely important space.

As such, we are still calling on all contractors across the state to make the installation of safety switches a priority for discussion at every callout. Ensuring that every customer is fully aware of what they are, what they do and why they need them, as well as how many their home actually has, is paramount to tackling this issue.

When so many electrocution deaths are those of tradespeople, it may be your own life you save by keeping this important debate going.

Master Electricians Australia

www.masterelectricians.com.au