There is no substitute for safety in your workplace

At Master Electricians Australia, we spend a lot of time advocating for a range of issues within our industry, but no issue is of more paramount importance to us than electrical safety.

There have been far too many electrical deaths in Australia this year, with in excess of 100 families burying a loved one who has been tragically killed while on the job. The tragedy of each one is that they could have been prevented with a little forward planning and commonsense precautions like turning the power off at the switchboard.

While the number of electrical deaths for 2016 is on a downward trend from previous years, we still believe that one death is one too many, and we will continue to be a strong advocate for increased safety measures in the electrical industry. We simply must get better at electrical safety as a nation, and Master Electricians Australia challenges the contracting industry to set the example.

It is vital that every electrical business is doing all it can to implement a workplace culture that places a premium on safety. A series of checks and balances should be in place to ensure that employers are doing all they can to create a safe working culture. Employers should undertake a full safety audit of their business as well as implement a safety management plan, not only to prevent tragedy from occurring, but also to safeguard against potential legal action (which can lead to financial ruin) in the event of a workplace fatality. 

For instance, earlier this year a manslaughter charge was laid against the electrical contractor in charge of the worksite where 20-year-old Jason Garrels was electrocuted in 2012. This manslaughter charge was made following a coronial inquest that found the worksite was not adequately safe. Had a more stringent application of basic electrical safety been in place, a young life would not have been lost and the contractor in charge of the worksite would not have faced criminal charges.

In addition, we have also seen a 24-year-old Victorian man die on the roof of a store in Melbourne after being electrocuted and a 21-year-old dairy farmer electrocuted while holding a pump at a drainage pit on a farm in rural Victoria.

As an electrical contractor, you can’t always control what happens on worksites, but you can control the training and safeguards you put in place to ensure that all staff are as well informed as possible on how to work safely.

Master Electricians Australia acknowledges that it can be difficult for contractors to fully understand complex electrical regulatory frameworks. To assist contractors in creating a culture as conducive to safety as possible, MEA has developed a program named ME Safety, an affordable option to run as an add-on fee-for-service alongside MEA membership. 

ME Safety is a fully integrated safety management system designed specifically for the electrical industry for the purpose of protecting both staff and customers via a series of checks and balances. 

MEA is passionate about ensuring that every employer, contractor or sole operator in Australia is fulfilling their safety obligations and that they are able to legally defend themselves in the event that an employee does not meet their safety obligations and a tragedy occurs. 

The implementation of ME Safety not only reduces the risk of accidents, it also increases business productivity, customer satisfaction, product and service quality, and reduces errors and costs.

Having an extensive and thorough safety program in place can be the difference in not only ensuring that your employees operate in a safe environment, but also providing you with the appropriate legal protection should a tragedy occur. 

There simply is no compromise for safety in an industry such as ours. If you’re an employee, it is important that you are proactive in promoting safety, because in the event of a tragedy it is too late to decide to think about increasing safety in your workplace. To find out more about ME Safety, please visit our website at www.masterelectricians.com.au/page/Join/Safety/. 

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