Safety lapses in energy scheme

THE federal government has ordered a crackdown on safety standards for its $4 billion energy-efficient housing scheme, after a man was electrocuted while installing foil insulation. Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday convened an urgent meeting between Standards Australia and manufacturers of foil insulation, which is being put into one in every 20 houses signed up to the free insulation scheme. EE-Oz -- the ElectroComms and Energy Utilities Industry Skills Council -- and the Construction Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC) will also be involved in the industry round-table next week to improve training and safety standards. Queensland's Electrical Safety Office is probing the death of an insulation installer in Brisbane last week. A co-worker who was helping him install the foil insulation suffered burns and an electric shock. The ESO warned installers "not to underestimate other dangers involved", such as the risk of fire from putting insulation around lights, cables and ceiling fans. "Installed incorrectly, this could cause the insulation to become energised, not only posing an electrical risk to the installer but also to others," its safety bulletin said. Brisbane management consultant Laurie Day got the shock of his life after the foil product was installed in his roof. Chatting with a mate on the back deck of his high-set home, he leaned against a metal awning and "got a little bit of a zap". "I didn't even give it a second thought but then over the weekend I was hosing it down and got a bigger shock," he said yesterday. Mr Day called an electrician, who discovered a staple had pierced an electrical cable running over a ceiling joist. Bob Davis, of R&H Electrical, detected a 240-volt charge running through an aluminium post which was attached to metal flashing that surrounded that house. "That meant the metal guttering was alive," he said. "The sarking (foil roof protection) in the ceiling would have been live." Mr Davis said the foil insulation had been stapled into a power cable that had been switched off at the time. Once the home owner flicked the two-way light switch, all the metal in the house -- from the insulation to sarking in the roof and walls and the gutters, awnings and poles -- went live. "We've had people over for barbecues and anyone could have got zapped," Mr Day said yesterday. "Had I got an aluminium ladder and pushed it up against some guttering it could have been fatal." Mr Day said the insulation company had agreed to pay for the cost of the electrician, and to reinstall the product. Another Brisbane couple, Bob and Joan McCullogh, said yesterday that they had to call an ambulance when an installer received an electric shock after stapling the foil into their roof cavity. Ms McCullogh said the man, in his early 20s, had been taken to hospital. Aluminium Foil Insulation Association president Brian Tikey denied yesterday that the product was unsafe. "I think the registered installers are not being adequately trained and supervised," he said. Mr Tikey said he would recommend at the safety summit that the foil be taped or fastened with plastic, rather than metal staples, to avoid accidents.