Master Electricians Australia (MEA) has welcomed the Queensland State Coroner’s findings that recommend reconsideration of the issue of safety switches in homes.
These findings ask the Queensland Government to ensure the installation of safety switches on every circuit of every home.
MEA chief executive officer Malcolm Richards said that Master Electricians’ recommendation to the inquiry to examine the issue of safety switches had been taken seriously.
MEA calls on every state government to examine the findings of this enquiry and take action to make safety switches compulsory in every home, on every circuit, in the country. Mr Richards adds that all state governments should urgently act on this recommendation to minimise the risk of similar tragedies in the future.
MEA’s own research shows around 15 people are killed and 300 hospitalised every year as a result of injuries from electric shocks at home. These accidents could be easily prevented by having a safety switch installed on every electrical circuit.
A safety switch can detect an electric shock and cut the flow of power in a few hundredths of a second, faster than the critical phase of a heartbeat. However, even though safety switches have been made compulsory on power circuits in new homes for over 20 years now, many houses still do not have them fitted, and very few have them on every circuit.
