Australia Electricians Sound the Warning

EXPERIENCED electricians fear some homes will be left as time bombs with metal staples near live wires due to the challenge of removing insulation foil.

Master Electricians Australia chief executive Malcolm Richards urged homeowners, unless they suspected a major safety risk, to wait until the Federal Government announced further details on installing safety switches in homes.

"It's very hard to find and remove every last bit of foil. When you pick up the foil, it does rip and some staples remain behind. There's a lot of dark places in ceilings. You only need one staple poking out," Mr Richards said.

Homeowners needed to understand it would take two electricians up to three hours to complete a proper safety check, he said.

A Brisbane electrician predicts some contractors will rush the testing of homes or prey on the fears of home owners by quoting repairs that are not needed."There will be rorting of this. There are dodgy sparkies out there just like there are dodgy people everywhere in the building industry," he said.

"You can do a test on a house and find out an issue in five minutes. It will be like the foil – $400 is good money."

The MEA has made six complaints about insulation companies offering to sell their lists of clients for $100 per property to electricians.

The Electrical Safety Office has also investigated the MEA's complaint about a Brisbane electrical company advertising to do safety checks only to find it did not have the appropriate licensing.

Mr Richards said his members were on the alert for dodgy operators and would not hesitate to dob them in to the authorities.

Gold Coast residents have complained to legitimate insulation companies about being hassled by call centres and door-to-door salesmen claiming they could fix their roofs.

Anne Nalder from Premium Insulations said her company had arranged for a free safety check from experienced electrical contractors Wickford only to have clients call back about continued harassment by "dodgy electricians".

"We've also had them say that people are turning up on their doorstep without any booking at all," Ms Nalder said.

"These people are saying, 'My visit is to do with the government program'.

"Again, the Government has opened the door for shonky operators."

Wickford general manager Rob Billing said more than 300 inspections had been done and problems were found at only a handful of sites.