(Original Post from Master Calibrators)
Better safe than sorry. It’s a phrase you’ve probably heard since you were young and you’ve probably heard it said so often that it’s lost a bit of its meaning by now. But what if being safe rather than sorry was a matter of life and death? Well when it comes to regularly testing and calibrating your equipment, it can be.
For some, regularly having equipment tested, calibrated and inspected is just an extra cost and inconvenience. And since there is a low perceived chance of being ‘caught out’, it’s often the first thing to go on the list of to do’s. This however, can be a fatal attitude to have towards the practice of keeping your equipment compliant, and staff safe.
If your gloves happen to have a minuscule deterioration, or your meter is reading incorrectly unbeknownst to you, it could cost a life in the wrong circumstances.
Alternatively, you could receive fines, or have Public Liability insurance claims rejects. All of this would far exceed the cost of testing in the first place. Testing and calibration is for the purpose of keeping compliant. Keeping compliant is for the purpose of keeping safe. Keeping safe is essential for you, your loved ones and your business. At the end of the day, the cost to insure yourself against fatalities, serious injuries or fines is not much in the scheme of things.
Be better safe than sorry in your workplace. Don’t risk it. Test today.
See below for an example of negligence when it comes to electrical safety obligations (from our friends at Master Electricians – http://www.masterelectricians.com.au/);
Did you know…
In 2012, a company in Queensland pleaded guilty to the charge of having failed to meet its electrical safety obligations when a young worker died during the construction of a residential building.
The company had performed electrical installation work as part of the construction of residential duplex dwellings in Central Queensland. In February 2012, the power to temporary sub-switchboards was not isolated prior to work commencing. A labourer working for another company grabbed the temporary meter box to relocate it. As he moved it, the protective conduit moved – inadvertently exposing the supply cable conductors to metal edges of the conduit hole in the switchboard. As the power was not isolated, it energised the exposed parts of the switchboard. The 20-year-old worker who was moving the box was electrocuted.
Industrial Magistrate Maxine Baldwin fined the defendant $90,000 on top of their professional and court costs totaling $9,856.25. No conviction was recorded.
The Industrial Magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to ensure the installation was electrically safe, in that the worker was not free from electrical risk. In deciding the penalty, the Magistrate took into account that the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any electrical or work health and safety breach, had co-operated with the investigation and had entered an early plea of guilty.
Don’t leave it until it’s too late….
