Electrical Connection Spring 2016

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16 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON S PR I NG 20 1 6
INDUSTRY NEWS
PRODUCTRECALL: IWANT
ENERGY—DC ISOLATINGSWITCH
On 18 May 2016, a product recall
notice was issued for a DC isolating
switch from I Want Energy. The
switch has been identified as a
possible fire hazard.
Product description
DC isolating switch used in solar
installations.
Identifying features
HGN4-32DC
What are the defects?
Faulty contacts.
What are the hazards?
Possible fire hazard.
Dates available for sale
7 October 2012 - 1 March 2014
Where the product was sold
Tasmania
Traders who sold this product
I Want Energy
Supplier
I Want Energy
Supplier’s web site
What should you do?
You should contact I
Want Energy on 03 6234 7009
if they suspect they have this
switch installed.
Of the more than 300 electrical
shocks reported to the Electrical
Safety Office in Queensland over the
past 12 months, around 10% relate to
unterminated cables.
A live unterminated cable is an
electrical safety risk to anyone who
comes into contact with it. To manage
this safety risk you should:
§Ŷ Ensure that a thorough
verification test has been
performed on the whole
electrical installation. This will
identify unterminated cables
and joints before the installation
is energised. It is also required
by law and Australian Standards
(See AS/NZS 3000:2007,
Section 8: Verification).
§Ŷ Always treat unterminated
cables as potentially live and
isolate and test them before
you touch.
§Ŷ Ensure that safety switches are
installed on all required circuits
and consider installing safety
switches on other circuits.
When pre-wiring an electrical
installation you can avoid the risk of
electric shock from an unterminated
cable by:
§Ŷ Using a reliable marking
system to correctly identify the
location of cables.
§Ŷ Using insulation tape or
junction boxes to enclose the
exposed ends of conductors.
§Ŷ Twisting the conductors of each
cable together.
BICSI recently concluded its 2016
South Pacific District Conference and
Exhibition. The three-day event took
place at the Dockside Pavilion in Darling
Harbour, Sydney, where hundreds of
delegates took in education, exhibits
and networking.
The overall theme of the conference
was ‘Trust Your Connections’ with an
emphasis on how ICT infrastructure is
expanding into more and more business
applications and building services.
Local and international subject matter
experts presented on key issues that
ICT industry professionals need to
understand to service this burgeoning
migration. Technical presentations,
case studies, workshops and seminars
throughout the event focused on future-
proofing ICT infrastructure; mitigating
business risk; accommodating network
migration; the unique needs of data
centres; future technical and industry
trends; and more.
A highlight of the conference was
the annual South Pacific Cabling Skills
Challenge. Modelled after the US-
based competition, eight participants
challenged each other in industry tasks,
scored by a panel of judges. For the
second year in a row, Cameron Rolfe of
Datatel in Western Australia emerged
as the champion. Cameron will go on
to represent the South Pacific and
compete in the 10th annual US BICSI
Cabling Skills Challenge at the 2017
Winter Conference & Exhibition in
Tampa, Florida, in January.
Another exciting aspect of the South
Pacific Conference was the BICSI South
Pacific 2016 ICT Infrastructure Awards
Three awards were presented,
including:
§Ŷ ICT Infrastructure Design
Award, presented to Datatel
for Wesfarmers Court, Curtin
University Business School,
Western Australia
§Ŷ ICT Infrastructure Installation
Award, presented to DESA
Australia for MCG Smart Stadium
– ICT project, Victoria
§Ŷ BICSI South Pacific Member of
the Year Award, presented to
Peter Guenther, RCDD, of Rhumb
Consulting, South Australia
“It’s wonderful to see such fantastic
accomplishments made by our BICSI
Members on a truly global level.
I hope they are all proud of their
achievements,” says BICSI president
Brian Ensign, RCDD, NTS, OSP, RTPM.
ELECTRIC SHOCKRISK –UNTERMINATED LIVE CABLES
BICSI SOUTHPACIFIC CONFERENCE COMES TOACLOSE FOR 2016