Foil insulation was 'recipe for disaster', electricians group says

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/19/foil-insulation-recipe-disaster-royal-commission

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The Rudd government's decision to include foil insulation in its home insulation program was a recipe for disaster, an electrical expert says.

The CEO of Master Electricians Australia, Malcolm Richards, says the product should never have been permitted in the scheme given the dangers posed by electrical wiring in the roofs of older homes.

"If it wasn't funded in the first place we would have eliminated this as a risk issue," he has told the royal commission into the program.

Two of the four installer deaths under the program have been linked to foil insulation.

Richards said allowing foil to be retrofitted in homes was a "recipe for disaster".

He said Master Electricians Australia would have advised against it had the body been consulted before the scheme's rollout began on 1 July 2009.

He said it was disappointing the government didn't seek advice from the association given the high risk of electrocution in roof cavities.

The organisation only became aware foil was being used in late August 2009, after members received several calls about power tripping out at homes where the product had been installed, he said.

They were "horrified" to discover metal staples used to secure foil sheeting had been driven into electrical cabling, he said.

By October 2009, the group had drafted a warning letter highlighting the dangers of foil to then environment minister, Peter Garrett.

But the letter wasn't sent before Matthew Fuller, 25, became the first installer to die when he drove a metal staple through electrical cabling while laying foil insulation on 14 October 2009.

Two days after Fuller's death, Richards sent the letter which urged the government to immediately ban foil from the scheme.

He didn't receive a response from Garrett until 19 November 2009, a day after the second installer’s death.

Richards said he had also urged Garrett to ban foil from the program at a meeting on 20 October 2009.

He said it was regrettable Masters Electricians didn't raise its concerns about foil sooner, but he doubted it would have done any good.

"I'm personally disappointed we didn't react faster and raise the issues sooner, because if we had, we may have made some difference," he told the inquiry.

"But from the ensuing events I deem it highly unlikely we would have been heard or listened to until the events got serious."

Foil was banned from the program on February 9 2010, five days after the fourth death. The entire scheme was canned less than two weeks later.

The inquiry before Commissioner Ian Hanger, QC, is expected to conclude on Monday afternoon.