Source: Radio New Zealand
Two electricians work on an EV charging station. Supplied / New Zealand Electrical Inspectors Association
Homes and businesses have been exposed to a new “lethal” risk of electrocution because of a rule change, according to electrical inspectors.
RNZ can reveal a dispute that’s escalated over the last month as inspectors in multiple meetings and letters have pleaded unsuccessfully with officials to do a U-turn.
On 13 November, a ban on putting a switch or fuse into mains power earthing systems was ditched, among 400 updates to electrical safety regulations.
“It’s a rule that’s just been taken away and … as it stands at the moment, is a lethal risk,” NZ Electrical Inspectors Association president Warren Willetts told RNZ.
Master Electricians industry group said the change had introduced a “critical safety issue” for consumers and installers.
WorkSafe said on Thursday it would be a “rare event” to insert a switch or fuse, and that other safety restrictions remained in place.
However, at the same time, the agency said the change was to allow for safer uptake of common new technologies like EV charging and household solar panels.
It issued a four-line statement saying it would publish guidance soon for the industry, and declined an interview. Letters between WorkSafe and the association seen by RNZ, and Willetts’ comments, show the inspectors are in no way reassured.
WorkSafe promised an external review “to benchmark our advice on the amendment”, but the inspectors said that would come much too late.
“We know of no other country in the world that allows” this, the association wrote to WorkSafe on 21 November.
The removal of the Protective Earth Neutral (PEN) protections could render entire systems “lethal, possibly with multiple injuries or fatalities” even when they were operating normally, it said.
WorkSafe said the change was to allow for safer uptake of common new technologies like EV charging. RNZ
To ‘not get a fatal shock from that is nearly impossible’
“In this case, when you switch the main neutral off, all the metalwork in your house, your hot water cylinder, your tap, your shower, whatever’s been earthed, now becomes 230 volts plus,” Willetts said on Wednesday.
“So you being able to let go and not get a fatal shock from that is nearly impossible.”
A residual current device, or RCD, would not help.
Inspectors requested two urgent meetings with WorkSafe in November, but emerged even more worried.
“It was very concerning to have WorkSafe unable to confirm or deny whether a high-impendance PEN (switch to open circuit) is a potentially lethal risk,” they wrote on 21 November.
‘An appropriate move’
Last Friday, WorkSafe wrote back defending the change. Its letters called the deleted ban “prescriptive” and a “blanket prohibition”.
“We are confident that removal … was an appropriate move,” the agency wrote.
It would not expect installers to put in a switch unless there was “good reason”.
“However in order to address your concerns” it was commissioning an external review.
The inspectors said the safe approach was to do a U-turn now, and claimed that WorkSafe did not consult the industry properly before it went ahead.
“I’m not going to call them incompetent, but it is insinuated that is the case,” Willets told RNZ.
The changes create a “lethal” risk of electrocution, electrical inspectors say. Supplied / New Zealand Electrical Inspectors Association
‘Unsafe, unworkable and legally ambiguous’
The Master Electricians industry group said the change introduced a “critical safety issue by permitting switching or fusing of the PEN conductor prior to the main switchboard, directly contradicting Section 8.3.7.2(b) of AS/NZS 3000, which prohibits PEN switching”.
“This creates an unsafe, unworkable, and legally ambiguous situation for installers and consumers,” said chief executive Alex Vranyac-Wheeler in a statement.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] which adminsters the regulations said it had had initial talks with Master Electricians on this and they would meet soon.
It had consulted the public on the whole package of 440 updates to the safety regulation citations to reduce barriers to renewable energy tech, the ministry said, adding WorkSafe engaged with the industry on the disputed change.
WorkSafe told RNZ on Thursday, “In the rare event an electrician needs to switch an earth or PEN conductor, only approved methods should be used to ensure safety.” The link was to 2023 guidance titled ‘Connecting a generator to the wiring of a house or building following an emergency’.
“The regulatory amendment lays the foundation for future measures to ensure electric vehicle charging meets safety expectations, and allow for improved disaster resilience,” it said.
This appeared to be reference to use of generators after a disaster, and needing to isolate them.
Willetts said a scenario created by the change was that a householder looking to charge their EV might hire an electrician, who opted to put in a switch because they could. “A switch or a fuse in that neutral by itself creates this lethal risk.”
WorkSafe said it would put out guidance before Christmas “outlining the restrictions that remain in place to prevent switching from occurring”.
Willetts questioned why the guidance did not accompany the rule change. “We don’t have any guidance yet from Energy Safety [part of WorkSafe] to say what to do and what not to do.”
He said inspectors suspected just one or two people initiated the rule change, and the lethal risk was likely an “unintended consequence”.
But WorkSafe said its experts had engaged with industry experts, and continued to do so, and fed that advice to MBIE which made the regulatory change.
WorkSafe said its experts had engaged with industry experts. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Who knows what?
The inspectors association sent WorkSafe advice from WorkSafe Queensland in 2021 that talks about the risk of electric shock from switching the neutral. Industry commentary in Australia has called it “a very bad idea”.
In its two letters to inspectors, WorkSafe said the responsibilties and liabilities of installers to do a safe job had not changed.
Willetts said this was passing “the legislative responsibility of safety to the electrician” by relying on other safety regulations they were most likely not even aware of.
“I would hope most of them would go ‘no’ [to an unsafe PEN switch] but as an electrical inspector going to sites, I have seen some weird and wonderful things electricians have done.
“We know from past that any emails that they send out, a lot of the electricians just ignore them.”
The inspectors association argued for alternatives for charging EVs, and isolating generators, that it said were being picked up in other countries.
In its 6 November letter, WorkSafe defended the change as in alignment with “an internationally recognised method of protection”.
In the UK, the Institution of Engineering and Technology published a new standard and was pushing for mandatory use of open combined protective and neutral (PEN) conductor detection devices (OPDDs).
Willetts said if any switch or fuse was put in a PEN it should only be done with a certified design by an electrical engineer.
The inspectors association expected to issue guidelines next week. Master Electricians was doing similar and said it was working with MBIE on making the whole regulatory system more flexible like in Australia.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
