NECA welcomes launch of new system to tackle non-compliant product

The National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) welcomed the launch of the Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS) in Queensland today as a major step forward in stamping out the use of non-compliant product.

The EESS, which has been developed by the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council (ERAC), provides an online database on which all suppliers and certain types of electrical equipment must be registered prior to being offered for sale. The database will be rolled out in every Australian state and territory by September 2013, with only NSW still considering whether to join the system.

“The introduction of the EESS is a major step forward in tackling the growing problem of non-compliant electrical product in Australia and we congratulate ERAC and the Electrical Safety Office in Queensland for reaching this milestone today,” said NECA’s Chief Executive Officer James Tinslay.

“NECA has been working with electrical safety regulators to get the EESS introduced throughout Australia as it provides an easy way for electrical contractors to identify whether the products they are considering purchasing meet the relevant national standard.

“This is very important as, with the rise of the Asian economy, the market has become swamped with low-price electrical items and it is not always easy to identify those products which are compliant from those which could be potentially dangerous.”

To help address the problem NECA, together with the electrical industry portal Voltimum, will be launching a joint campaign at the beginning of May to alert the electrical industry of the dangers of using non-compliant product.

The decision to launch the campaign follows a recent electrical industry survey conducted by NECA and Voltimum which revealed that over 75% of contractors had come across non-compliant product in their work.

This is an alarming statistic as installing unsafe, non-compliant equipment can cause fires or electric shocks and could even lead to loss of life or property. It can also result in legal action being taken against the electrical contractor who installed the product.

The campaign aims to form an industry alliance to tackle this growing problem and to educate contractors, distributors, importers and manufacturers about the dangers associated with non-compliant product, and gather commitment from the whole of industry to work together to stamp it out.