Bought from a reputable supplier?

If the events of this year have taught us one thing - it’s that supporting the suppliers who support you could be the most important safety net for protecting the business.

It is simply not enough to know a product complies with Australian standards - if the company you are buying from does not have adequate insurance or prudential arrangements in place in the event of a recall, you could be the one left holding the baby.

Following the May recall of 68 different types of faulty and unsafe Avanco- and PVPower-branded DC solar isolators amid serious safety concerns, and the collapse of the products’ Sunshine Coast distributor Advancetech, many of our members were left facing the time-consuming and costly task of replacing these products in clients’ homes. The economic burden of replacing the 27, 000 faulty devices used in solar electrical systems and recalled by the Queensland Government ended up falling squarely on innocent installers.

To add insult to injury, yet more of you may end up out of pocket, following the recent national safety recalls of Infinity and Olsent branded electrical cables. Through a thorough testing process, the cables were found to become prematurely brittle with age, resulting in the very real danger of serious injury or death. 

Both brands of cable were sold through Masters Home Improvement stores between March 2012 and September 2013, while Infinity cables were also sold by a number of other suppliers. Electricians across the country were suddenly forced to head back to people’s homes to remove and replace cable laid close to heat sources such as hot water systems, or in accessible parts of the building.

Yet despite these risks, it seems a growing number of electricians are choosing to buy products online from any number of sources or from discount stores offering lower prices, but oftentimes at the expense of quality and reliability. These very serious issues should make every contractor question whether saving a few dollars is really worth leaving yourself financially exposed.

That small amount of money saved now could end up costing you major cash and possibly your livelihood down the track, if the product you’ve bought and installed in clients’ homes is found to pose a serious threat to people’s property and lives. 

You see, there’s a good reason you’re paying a little more to reputable suppliers for products that comply with Australian standards. Firstly, the products sold by these suppliers undergo thorough and comprehensive safety testing before they hit the shelves, and secondly, because most of these suppliers have prudential arrangements in place at all times, to cover you - the installer - in such an event. While both of these safety nets may add expense, they are an integral part of your ‘insurance policy’.

So MEA is calling on all electrical contractors and business owners to put their customers’ safety, as well as theirs and their staff’s safety, ahead of the temptation to think that near enough will be good enough. While we can’t prevent these products from being available, we can choose not to buy them, and instead choose to support the suppliers who support us.