ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Govt urged to improve electrical industry regulation

This from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website regarding electrical safety in the Northern Territory:

Wednesday, 5 April 2006. 07:50 (ACDT)Wednesday, 5 April 2006. 04:50 (AWST)
The Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union says it has received many complaints about poor electrical work standards in the Northern Territory.

The union has written to Chief Minister Clare Martin asking for a meeting about the problems.

The union's Peter Tighe says there have been several deaths in recent years in the Territory's electrical industry.

He says the Government needs to improve regulation of the industry.

"On occasions - [I'm] not saying that all contractors are like this - close enough is good enough and that's certainly not the case with electrical safety," he said.

"When it starts to come back to us as an issue, a workplace issue, then there is a real problem and we think we've got an obligation to raise it with Government and we expect Government to react."

The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Chris Burns, says the Government is concerned about safety in the workplace.

Dr Burns says he is happy to work with the unions to address some of its concerns.

"There have been a number of deaths in recent years in the workplace and we're concerned about this and we've already started to take some action to address these issues, but we're willing to work constructively with the union on this issue, it's very important," Dr Burns said.
http://abc.net.au/news/items/200604/1608729.htm?alicesprings

That's worrying but at the same time constructive. Not the typical union style "Mandatory union membership for safety" but rather the "This and this is unsafe, we in the union are worried, do something about it".

Electricians are the first to be bit by poor installations, something which can be seen from the accident statistic.

Not to mention that if poor work practices, like failure to lock out and tag out properly, are the norm, this will put pressure on professional electricians to cut corners too.

I hope the NT government will do something about this.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 04-05-2006).]