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LETTERS
www. e l e c t r i c a l c o n n e c t i o n . c om . a u
9
THE REAL COST
A QUESTION ON COMPLIANCE
Hi Paul,
I read with great interest your story
in the Spring 2016 edition of
Electrical
Connection
titled
Having NAAN of it.
The story highlights the problems with
purchasing from overseas and much more.
The real cost of purchasing the
equipment from India with all the
retrofitting and changes may have
been dearer than buying locally. Strong
specifications and penalties for failing to
meet requirements need to be spelt out
in contracts including making the final
payment after the equipment has arrived
and meets requirements.
I assume there was little ongoing
support from India and the additional
advice and instructions that is mostly
available from local suppliers can’t be
understated or underestimated.
There is also the issue of changing legal
responsibilities by altering a product.
The installer goes from being an installer
under Section 26 of the Australian
harmonisedWork Health and Safety Act
to the designer and manufacturer under
Section 22 and 23 of the Act. Additionally,
the person bringing the equipment
into Australia and perhaps selling it on
becomes the importer and supplier under
Sections 24 and 25 of the Act (though
probably no change in roles here as they
would have had these legal responsibilities
anyway). The change in roles for the
installer brings with it quite onerous legal
responsibilities - check out these sections
of the Act and you will see what I mean.
Also, what we don’t knowwhen we alter
a piece of equipment is the hidden design
issues that have been inbuilt into the
product and we may detrimentally alter
the equipment and not even know about it.
My advice is to buy locally and talk to
the manufacturer if changes must be made
to a piece of equipment to ensure you do
not compromise the design. In doing so,
you will be supporting Australian jobs but
more importantly, ensuring safety. Yes,
there may be an additional cost but what
was the real cost of ‘Having NAAN of it’?
Regards,
Chris Halliday
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your letter. We here at
Electrical Connection completely agree
that using product that is not designed
to adhere to local specifications simply
isn’t worth the risk (either in terms
of the law and/or safety). Further, all
sparkies need to become aware of their
legal requirements when it comes to the
import and supply of product.
-Paul
I recently saw at a well-known retailer
a BC to ES lamp converter for sale. I
also see these for sale on eBay quite
often. I advise my customers that these
converters likely do not comply with
Australian Standards simply because the
centre pin on an ES Lamp holder must
be the active and in a BC adaptor you
would have a 50% chance of this being
wrong. This then means that the outside
metal thread is potentially live and it is
very possible that you could come into
contact with it.
I brought this up with Fair Trading NSW,
which has since told me the company
has all necessary approvals for these
converters. This doesn’t necessarily
make them safe. If these do comply with
Australian Standards then maybe this
needs to be looked at. Fair Trading seems
to think that because there were no
reports of injury that they must be safe
(note: they said the same thing about
asbestos, cigarettes, etc.). If someone was
injured then Fair Trading may act but I
would think that prevention is better than
the cure, especially in the case of a death.
What are your thoughts?
Regards,
Bill Larkin
Hi Bill,
You are correct. Even if the unit was
designed to have the outer contact as
neutral it could never be guaranteed
as the active and neutral wiring can be
connected to either of the terminals in
the BC batten-holder.
You should report it to your local state
regulator for review. It can be considered
quite dangerous.
The Office of Fair Trading NSW has
a complaint contact on its website, I
am sure.
-Gary