Safety switch research

Help us save lives by testing your safety switch

Each year fellow Queenslanders are injured or killed while using electrical equipment that is either unsafe or not used safely. In the five years from 2004 to 2008 there were 25 electrical fatalities. Safety switches could have prevented 12 of these deaths. In other words, nearly half of the lives lost could have been saved.

To save lives, safety switches have to work first time, every time.

Safety switches are electrical devices designed to protect people from faulty switches, wiring or appliances. A safety switch monitors the flow of electricity though a circuit and automatically shuts off the electricity supply when current is detected leaking from faulty switches, wiring or electrical appliances. It has been designed to be tested and the ‘test’ button located on the device differentiates it from the other devices in the switchboard.

You can help pin down the failure rate for safety switches by testing those installed in your home.

It doesn’t matter whether your safety switch is a traditional one fitted to your home switchboard, fitted at the electrical outlet or a portable one; we would like to know if it is working properly.

If your safety switch has been triggered in the last three months, you can go straight to the website and let us know using the web link below by entering a small amount of information about the switch.

If your safety switch has not been triggered in the last three months, we would like you to test it as soon as is convenient for you and enter the result using the web link below.

If your safety switch fails to operate on test, it will need to be replaced. You should contact a licensed electrical contractor to undertake this work.

Please follow the link www.azzindustries.com.au/book-a-job

or

Contact Azz Industries now!

and enter the required information by Monday 29 November 2010.

BACKGROUND

International studies of safety switch test tests showed that safety switches installed in domestic dwellings indicated a very low failure rate based on relatively small test numbers.

The intention of the current project is to invite a much larger group of people to test their safety switch to find out if it works to provide protection for householders.

Once the analysis is completed by OESR, the results will be published in the Electrical Safety Outlook and on the ESO website.

Please give favourable consideration to participating in this important research. Your participation may help save a life this year.

If your safety switch fails to operate on test please follow the link www.oesr.qld.gov.au/safetyswitchtestresultsb and enter the required information by Monday 29 November 2010.

All information is collected anonymously so your identity is completely protected. We only ask for your postcode and data relating specifically to safety switches to assist in the analysis of safety switch performance in differing locations.

The Electrical Safety Office (ESO) has commissioned the Office of Economic and Statistical Research (OESR) to collect your test results on our behalf.

Get further information on safety switches, including advice on how to test it. www.justice.qld.gov.au/fair-and-safe-work/electrical-safety/for-householders-and-consumers/safety-switches.

 

This emai was sent by Electrical Safety Office, This email was sent by Electrical Safety Office, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Level 16, 50 Ann Street Brisbane, Queensland 4000 Australia, Telephone 1300 650 662, Website www.electricalsafety.qld.gov.au to aaron@azzindustries.com.au