How Safety Switches Can Save You
Source: NSW Fair Trading. (2020). Changes to Support Tenants on Victims of Domestic Abuse. Property Matters. https://lnk.nswfairtrading.trclient.com/l/AqbeOKU6xmgdhLRa7mgsiH8
With around 40% of home fires in NSW caused by electrical faults and appliances and to protect your household from electric shocks, it's a smart move to have your home's electrical wiring checked and have safety switches installed and tested regularly.
What are safety switches and how do they work?
Located in your switchboard, safety switches turn off the power immediately if an electrical fault is detected. To be fully protected, you may need more than one safety switch installed to cover the different circuits in your home.
A simple installation by a licensed electrician costs a few hundred dollars: service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/check-builder-or-tradesperson-licence
Testing and maintaining safety switches
Testing a safety switch is the only way to know if it is working.
At the start of every tenancy, a Condition report (available below, 2.9 MB) must be completed by the agent/landlord and the tenant:
fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/608381/condition-report.pdf
The 'security and safety' section includes 'safety switch' as an item that both parties need to check to ensure it is working (if one or more are installed).
During the tenancy:
- testing a safety switch can be part of a regular property inspection (ideally, testing it twice a year). This can also be done at the same time as smoke alarm testing.
- if a safety switch detects an electrical fault, repairing the fault is an urgent repair. If a safety switch is found to be faulty, this should also be repaired urgently: fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/renting/during-a-tenancy/repairs,-maintenance-and-damage
Tenants should be advised of this test when they are given notice of the inspection or maintenance visit, including why it is being done, and that it will cut the electricity supply during the test only.
How to test safety switches
Find out about safety switches on the NSW Government website: nsw.gov.au/topics/electrical-safety/in-the-home#safety-switches
Watch this video to find out how quick and easy testing them is:
youtu.be/GLMPH1gRqzE
Remember, if you're a tenant
Ask your agent/landlord:
- if there are safety switches
- where they are located
- to have them tested as part of the property inspections.
If you live in strata, ask your strata manager or the owners corporation if there are safety switches installed, and if testing them is part of the safety checks for the complex.