Safety switches and why you need them

Almost a year since the Home Insulation Scheme Royal Commission, questions are being asked about how long it will take for our collective governments to take action to mandate the installation of safety switches.

In May 2014, I took to the stand in Brisbane, alongside more than 50 witnesses, to give evidence in front of Commissioner Ian Hanger QC during the HIP Royal Commission.

I told the commission that as electricians, we were horrified to hear that foil products had been laid over old wiring as part of the scheme. I described that worried sparkies began calling us at MEA headquarters within a month of the rollout - voicing genuine concern after seeing safety switches being tripped when foil insulation was stapled into the wiring. There had been a number of near misses, and many of you who had been privy to the goings-on had raised the alarm, long before the first death.

My testimony formed part of an overwhelming body of evidence - more than 120 interviews and upwards of 70,000 documents tendered to the commission. Given the large volume of material, Ian Hanger needed an extra two months to produce his report. It was handed down at the end of August 2014. The report was filled with criticism, citing a litany of errors and outlining seven significant failings in the design and implementation of the program.

The truth at the heart of each finding was - that safety switches may have saved the lives of each of the three young men electrocuted. As part of his findings, Commissioner Hanger recommended, absolutely and unequivocally, that governments Australia-wide adopt each one of the 16 recommendations regarding safety switches that MEA made in our Switch Thinking report.

Since the botched scheme, Queensland has made some progress. However, it has been slow, and woefully inadequate. Commissioner Hanger called for every recommendation outlined in MEA’s Switch Thinking Report to be actioned, and yet absolutely nothing has been done in every other state to extend these protections to every Australian.

The current regulatory landscape varies widely from state to state and is one in which the same level of safety at home is still not available to all Australians. Take-up rates still vary widely from state to state. As many as 40% of our nation’s homes have no safety switches installed, and most other homes do not have complete safety switch protection.

18-year-old Jayden Zappelli died in 2013 while helping another electrician install a chandelier in a house in Western Australia. This certainly was not an isolated incident - our data has shown that around 15 people are unintentionally electrocuted each year in Australia where a safety switch could have saved lives. Around 20 times that number are hospitalised with serious injuries due to electric shocks.

So let us not wait for yet another death before we do something. We are working behind the scenes to effect change, but our policymakers also need to hear from you. We are calling on every electrician who is concerned about the lack of action to mandate the installation of life-saving RCCBs or RCDs to add their voice - write to local members, take to social media and raise the issue with every customer. Let us band together and call for uniform action on this important issue.

Master Electricians Australia

http://www.masterelectricians.com.au

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Nik Rogul