WA top state for electrical fatal injury rate in Australia

Western Australia now has the dubious distinction of having the highest electrical fatal injury rate in the country, prompting Master Electricians Australia (MEA) to call for a renewed focus on electrical safety training.

MEA has been established in WA to encourage the electrical contracting industry to strive for the highest levels of safety, quality and reliability through targeted training and education.

According to MEA state manager Tony Mancini, electricity is a frequent cause of workplace injuries and deaths, and can easily be prevented if people are trained and taught to employ safety measures.

“There are electrical hazards in nearly every workplace and a small error can prove to be fatal as electricity does not have to be high voltage to cause electrocution,” Mancini said.

“Approximately 40% of fatalities occurred in a workplace environment, and each year on average one death and 30 lost-time injuries occur as a result of electrocution in Western Australia.

“Although there are many different causes of electrocution, they can all be prevented if proper training and education were carried out to highlight the importance of precautionary measures - such as having safety switches installed, or not turning a switch on or off with wet hands.”

WA’s fatal injury frequency rate (FIFR) for the last two years was 1.7 per million persons, according to the WA Department of Commerce. In contrast, the national average is 1.1 per million persons and the benchmark is 1.0. This makes WA the state with the highest FIFR, second only to the Northern Territory.

Since expanding its national accreditation program to WA, Mancini says MEA has been taking steps to raise safety standards and awareness among electrical contractors in WA.

“We are working hard to provide the right tools and training to ensure not only electrical contractors, but the WA public, are aware of the risks of not having proper electrical safety measures in place,” Mancini said.

“MEA has so far enjoyed a very successful foray into WA, with many major residential and small commercial contractors coming on board to join the MEA family - and this has reached well over the one hundred mark.

“We have also, on behalf of small businesses, subcontractors and the public in WA, lobbied for their rights in the industry, and will continue to do so.”