Published:
3 March 2015
Category:
Technical Articles
A fundamental principle of the compliance of a product is that all electrical products sold in Australia must be electrically safe. The requirements for compliance of products can go much further than this basic premise, as most products must comply with a product standard in addition to the essential Australian electrical safety standard.
Australia has minimum standards for electrical safety however in most cases a product will have an Australian Standard and/or an International Standard that applies to the product. These specific product standards will meet or exceed the minimum requirements for electrical safety in the generic standard. Additionally the product standards tend to define a minimum performance that the product must meet and this provides an assurance and security that a chosen product will be fit for purpose.
Across Australia in the various state and territory jurisdictions there are changes in the approval requirements which is moving us towards a national compliance scheme. The philosophy of all electrical safety schemes, be it new or old, has always been a focus on safety to users of electrical equipment and ensuring that products that are non-compliant with Australian Standards are unavailable to Australian consumers.
Compliance can have a relationship to product performance. In the instance of DC isolators associated with PV systems the standards set out certain performance criteria that products must comply with. A DC switching application is a very severe environment and it has been seen in recent years that some products have been unable to meet the arduous duties required.
The standards provided a benchmark that products can be measured against and performance verified by the safety authorities. As a result of this criteria laid down by the standards, inadequate or poor performance of a product can be readily identified and corrective action taken. Sometimes this can result in a product being withdrawn or recalled. These actions are living proof of the benefits of a strong compliance system.
The authorities and responsible suppliers of electrical equipment in Australia are working together in the electrical safety schemes which will provide benefit to all users of electrical equipment from installers through to end users, offering the assurance that the requirements of safety, reliability and performance of products has been met and the products are suitable the purpose that they are intended.
Ian Richardson
Senior Product Engineer
ABB Australia