Gov't puts in place inspections for foil insulated roofs
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CANBERRA, Feb 10 AAP
February 10 2010, 3:02PM
Peter Garrett has confirmed more foil insulated roofs could be an electrocution risk as he rolled out an electrical inspection regime for the government's bungled insulation program.
The environment minister was again on the back foot on Wednesday over the government's $3.7 billion insulation rebate scheme.
There are concerns over the safety of up to 37,000 homes fitted with foil insulation.
Mr Garrett moved to put in place an inspection regime for all homes fitted with the foil insulation, after preliminary investigations found a number of homes were live or electrically-charged.
Problems that are found will have to be rectified.
Three of four workers who have died while installing the insulation were electrocuted.
An initial audit found five cases of live insulation out of 400 homes.
"It now seems that that figure is higher. It may be a dozen or more on the advice that I have," Mr Garrett told reporters.
"Safety is a priority for me under this program."
But Mr Garrett refused to be held responsible for the problems, blaming rogue installers.
The program had been rolled out under the advice of his department, as well as the insulation industry, and as part of an existing compliance and monitoring regime, he said.
"My responsibility is to ensure we have a program that delivers insulation into people homes safely," he said.
"We have set up a program that does that so long as the people who participate in the program observe the guidelines of the program properly.
"All through this program when instances of behaviours on the part of installers ... or aspects of the program have emerged which require toughening or strengthening, we have taken those steps."
The government would continue to do that as necessary, Mr Garrett said.
He would not answer whether he or his department were warned in 2008 of dangers associated with the insulation program.
Homeowners can either get an electrician to carry out the inspection and then seek government reimbursement or wait until the government engages a specialist to carry out the work.
Mr Garrett could not say how much the inspection program would cost the government but said it would be covered in the insulation program.
The government will endeavour to recover the costs of any remediation work from original installers whose work was faulty.
This could include withholding further rebate payments under the insulation program.
"Installers who have not complied with program guidelines will be deregistered and have their details included on the name and shame register," Mr Garrett said.
By Sandra O'Malley, Senior Political Writer
