Has ‘Infinity’ or ‘Olsent’ electrical cabling been used on your projects? If it has, or you’re not sure, you should read this alert.

HIA is alerting builders to urgently check with their electrical contractors to confirm whether any ‘Infinity’ and ‘Olsent’ brand electrical power cables have been installed in homes and other building projects constructed or renovated after May 2010.

Defective electrical cables with these brands were imported in significant quantities by a now-defunct company. The cable was supplied to electrical contractors from May 2010 to August 2013 through a number of wholesalers and retailers across Australia.

All Infinity TPS and Orange Round cables are affected, but some Olsent cables are not.

Electrical contractors may have used this cable in work done as subcontractors to your business.

The importer of the cables claimed they met Australian Standards, however, the product has now been identified as not meeting relevant standards. An issue has been identified with the insulation and sheathing PVC compound of the electrical cable that may lead to a reduction in the cable insulation integrity. Therefore it may deteriorate much sooner than expected and potentially create a hazard for home owners.

While this problem has received relatively little publicity to date, action is being taken by State and Federal Authorities to remediate the problem and a national publicity campaign on the voluntary recall of these products is expected to be launched in the near future. There is an opportunity now for members to get ready before the matter receives further coverage in the public domain.

In order to be prepared for this, it is recommended that builders act now to find out whether the cabling was used on their projects. The first step is to contact your electrical contractors.

If the cabling was, or may have been, installed in any of your projects, members should contact HIA’s Workplace Services staff for more information as soon as possible on 1300 650 620.