Professionals take the lead on electrical safety

PROFESSSIONALS REAL Estate Group will host a forum for its 60 member offices across Western Australia next week to outline new State Government regulations to help reduce deaths from electrocution.
The forum, on  Tuesday 11 August at Professionals Group’s State Service Centre, will involve FESA, the Building Commission (Department of Commerce), EnergySafety and CS Legal, to discuss requirements for the mandatory fitting of Residual Current Devices (RCD) on all power points and lighting circuits.
It will also cover off issues surrounding new smoke alarm legislation set to commence in October.
An RCD is a safety device that monitors electrical current flowing within a circuit from the switchboard. If the RCD detects an imbalance in electrical current, such as a leakage to earth as current flows through a person’s body, the RCD immediately cuts the electricity supply to prevent electrocution.
Professionals Real Estate Group CEO David Hobbs said it was important that all members were on the front foot with new RCD and smoke alarm regulations.
“There have been a number of electrocution deaths in WA over recent years which could have been prevented by the use of RCDs. This forum will be invaluable in making sure we’re right on top of the changes and in-turn, educate our clients.
“In particular we need to make sure that owners of older properties budget for making their properties compliant. While re-wiring can be expensive, compliance is not a luxury – it’s a requirement,” Mr Hobbs said.
“Among other issues, the forum will look at the purpose and intention of the legislation; the impact on selling, buying and management of property; enforcement processes; owner and seller liability; and agency risk reduction.”
The Government will implement the new RCD regulations this month, starting on 9 August.
The new legislation will apply both to people selling their homes and to landlords. Every home sold or leased will need to be fitted with a minimum of two RCDs, which must protect all power point and lighting circuits.
Where a new tenant takes up residency, landlords will need to install the devices before the lease agreement is signed. However, for homes with a continuing tenancy, landlords have until 8 August, 2011 to fit the RCDs.
For further information visit the Office of Energy Website www.energysafety.wa.gov.au