National Electrical Contractors Association CEO James Tinslay says tight restrictions are now in place to make sure there is not a repeat of the workplace deaths that happened under the original free program.
“NECA has been working closely with the department to develop safe work procedures to ensure the safety of both workers and the householders,” he said.
“It could be that there might be a couple of months added to that. NECA wouldn’t see that as a major issue because we know the program will be carried out correctly and we’re very happy with the procedures that have been put in place.”
But he is not quite as confident about the inspections for bulk insulation. Mr Tinslay says his organisation has reported a number of inspectors for what appeared to be sloppy work.
“I have heard of a couple of instances where the people who were inspecting the bulk insulation didn’t meet the expectations that we would have of somebody competent to undertake the inspection,” he said.
“That is a worry; it was a few months ago and these have been passed on to the department.”
Cellulose insulation businesses in particular have concerns about the quality of the inspections.
The Australian Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association says many inspectors have little experience with their product and often report problems when there are none.
Queensland installer Geoff Hourigan says he is concerned that there is a conflict of interest because the Government has appointed CSR-Bradford for a large part of the inspection program.
“The inspection work that we tried to get, now they’ve given it to CSR and UGL, who have no industry experience whatsoever in the cellulose industry to inspect our work,” he said.
“These people, CSR in particular are in direct competition with us for the last 15 years and these guys are going to inspect our jobs?”
Combet optimistic
The Assisting Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, says CSR is not the only company involved in the inspections.
“CSR Bradford is obviously a large player in the industry but we also have now entered into a heads of agreement with a company called United Group Services, which will have the responsibility of engaging small and medium-sized insulation firms in the inspection program as well,” he said.
And he says it will be difficult for anyone to rig an inspection, because inspectors are only be given an address and will not be told who installed the product.
Overall he is optimistic the inspections will but carried out professionally.
“We’ve done, to the best of our capacity, the work to consult with the industry using an expert advisory panel to devise the training program for inspectors to carry out the inspection work that’s been going on for some period of time now,” he said.
“I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to suggest that inappropriate results are being recorded.”
The Federal Opposition has concerns about the inspections because the Government is refusing to release the program’s results.
Environment spokesman Greg Hunt says the figures for defects and dangerous roofs have been withheld from the Australian public.
“That is rightly something to which they should have access,” he said.
“The program on its current rate would take seven years to inspect every home done in seven months under the home insulation program.”
That is 1.2 million roofs. At present, the Government has only committed to inspecting 50,000 homes with thermal insulation and 150,000 with foil insulation.
But Mr Combet expects that number to rise.
First posted