By now the industry is well aware of the product recall of Infinity branded cables. These cables were tested by the Australian Cablemakers Association (ACA) under its Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) program and reported to the relevant Government Authorities. This industry led program was established because no such testing or monitoring of product safety and compliance was being carried out by any Government Authority.
Over the past few years Australia has been swamped with substandard and non conforming electrical products putting not only our electrical contractors at risk but also the unsuspecting public at large.
The Infinity story is not complete yet, in fact there are many more questions than answers at this stage. Firstly, why didn’t every State Authority act in a united front when advised of the safety risk to public and property? Is life cheaper in some States than others? Why the product was only recalled from sale and not fully recalled from installed sites? Potentially, there are many ticking time bombs around Australia that will inevitably go off over the next 5 to 7 years according to technical experts analysing the test data of these cables.
The company importing these cables has gone into liquidation. Further investigations are continuing whilst Government Authorities try and gather information as to where the product has been sold and to whom. Now it is known that Infinity cable is non-compliant and in fact dangerous to public safety, whose responsibility is it to correct the situation? Does the contractor have a legal or moral obligation to go and rectify installations where they have used this cable, if not from a safety concern for his customer then a concern of a possible future public liability if or when the cable fails and causes damage or injury? Who will pay for these rectifications is the big question.
The lessons learnt from the Infinity recall is clear. Wholesalers, retailers, and contractors ultimately pay the price for trading in non compliant product either in cold hard cash or reputation. The Government Authorities now have an industry supporter willing to put in the resources to clean up our own industry. They will need to resolve interstate differences and work together and act swiftly in the future. Perhaps it’s time the industry learnt the lesson that the cheapest price has many hidden costs attached.
About Australian Cablemakers Association & Approved Cables Initiative
The Australian Cablemakers Association (ACA) has been formed to represent the interests of Australia’s cable manufacturers. The ACA’s mission is to grow the Australian cable manufacturing industry and to promote safety in the community
The Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) was established by the ACA to address the use of unsafe, non-compliant and counterfeit cable in the Australian marketplace. The main focus of the ACI is to ensure that electrical cables available in the Australian market are fully compliant to the relevant Australian standards.
In-order to help the Australian electrical industry supply chain to have confidence in the electrical cables that they are using, the ACA has introduced the ACI logo as shown below.
