Action needed on safety inspection standards to combat dangers of installing insulation

NECA recently raised its ongoing concerns again of the risk of serious injury, death or house fires associated with the installation of insulation at its National Executive meeting. The meeting was held in Melbourne and attended by representatives of the NECA national and state/territory member organisations, which represent some 6000 contractors employing more than 100,000 electricians nationally.

NECA has warned governments and consumers on a number of occasions in recent months of the dangers associated with installing insulation in roof cavities where cabling is present. The recent federal government stimulus package measures have exacerbated these problems without the establishment of adequate enforceable inspection safety measures and placed homeowners and occupiers in serious danger.

James Tinslay, NECA national CEO, said it was time to take urgent action in addressing this problem, which is now recognised by all governments: “We have been working with the federal government and our Industry Skills Council to raise the nationally recognised training standards to take account of electrical and communications cabling issues and other occupational health and safety matters specific to our industry. These need to be implemented urgently and require fast-tracking though the lengthy national training system process.

“However, the industry considers training initiatives in themselves are not sufficient to meet all the safety issues that have come to light. NECA recommends that all installation of insulation in roof cavities involve a compulsory pre-installation inspection by a registered electrical contractor and a follow-up inspection at the completion of installation. This inspection would then need to be signed by the consumer and installer and filed with the appropriate state or territory authority. The federal department operating the scheme could then undertake random risk assessment audits to ensure the process is addressing the identified problems.

“In the interests of safety and saving lives, and avoiding the potential for house fires, NECA recommend this proposal be established as soon as possible. The small additional costs involved will be more than compensated by lives saved. We look forward to discussing this proposal with Federal Minister Garrett as soon as possible.”