IESL STUDY GROUP FOR INVESTIGATING ADEQUACY OF SAFETY MEASURES IN RELATION TO CONSUMER ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND ACCESSORIES IN SRI

LANKA
As Sri Lanka evolve in to a developed nation with a higher living standard, it is inevitable that the number of household electrical appliances in use will also increase rapidly. In addition, there will be a sharp increase in industrial electrical equipment used in the country as well. To meet the increasing demand, electrical appliances are being imported to Sri Lanka from overseas countries from various sources. While this can be considered as a positive development towards improved living standards, there is a growing concern about the inconsistent quality and especially the poor safety standards of some of the electrical appliances commercially sold in Sri Lanka. It is not uncommon to hear about fatalities in the society due to electrocution. There are many near misses and non fatal accidents occurring due to unsafe practices using electrical appliances. It is regrettable that majority of our community members, including professionals do not recognise the fact that vast majority of those accidents are preventable by adhering to effective safety standards. A group of IESL members have recognised the importance of protecting valuable lives form being electrocuted and prevention of accidents. They have taken an initiative to investigate and study the root cause of the problem of non existence of effective safety standards and the level of public awareness about importance of such measures. A study group has been formed under the Electrical Engineering Sectional Committee of IESL to investigate and come up with a proposal to establish safe work practices and to recommend a suitable framework to ensure public safety in using electrical appliances. The study group has already developed the Terms of Reference to formally define the objectives, action plan, stake holders, and critical success factors. The group consists of 12 members including two members contributing from Australia(members of the IESL New South Wales Chapter). At the first meeting, they decided to concentrate their attention in two directions, i.e. (a) Adequacy of safety measures and the effectiveness of regulatory framework for consumer / industrial Electrical Appliances (b) Level of adherence to the standards in the electrical installations in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is making steady progress as one of the fast developing countries in the world, the demand and the usage of electrical appliances is increasing rapidly. Therefore adequate measures need to be taken to strengthen the regulatory framework so that the electrical appliances introduced to the market will meet well established standards to ensure consumer safety. In addition, the consumer appliances should be free from unwanted radio frequency emissions and should withstand electrical interference to acceptable levels. The study group believes that the particular Standards in place to govern such conditions are inadequate in Sri Lanka and plan to study the most appropriate way to develop and implement such Standards. Subcommittee members have identified that there is a broad spectrum of stakeholders in this area of research, such as importers, manufacturers, distributors, electrical equipment installers and the general public. Therefore, the committee is planning to work with all stakeholders. They

will also work closely with standards institutions, regulatory authorities and other organisations to further enhance their contributions. When the study is completed, the group is planning to prepare a document about their findings and will be making representations at relevant industrial and regulatory forums. The knowledge gathered in the study will be the underlying strength in those contributions. The first step in the action plan for this investigation is to gather a reasonable amount of information about inappropriate and unsafe electrical appliances currently in use. They will also collect information about unsafe electrical installations as well. Once they collect adequate information, they will analyse data to identify inadequacies in standards and work practices. To better understand the effectiveness of a well established regulatory framework, the group will study the regulatory framework in several developed and fast developing countries such as Australia, England, China and India. Committee is planning to complete the study and release the report in six months. As identified in critical success factors, the subcommittee and the Electrical Engineering Sectional Committee will be satisfied if this exercise could gain attention of regulatory authorities in Sri Lanka. If the findings of this committee can lead to a well regulated electrical industry it will significantly reduce the number of fatal accidents and productivity losses due to lack of safety. To further strengthen up the efforts made towards safe electrical industrial framework, the study group members will make representations in public forums, produce reports and articles etc. to gain attention of general public. Currently the study group is gathering information about unsafe practices, installations and appliances in Sri Lanka. Information gathering is done in close circles at this stage and it is limited to the IESL members and associates. Committee seeks your assistance to this worthy cause by observing unsafe electrical appliances in household environment as well as in the industry. Providing such information will be a major contribution, towards achieving the final goal of the Study Group. Therefore the Study Group appointed to investigate the adequacy of safety of electrical appliances is inviting all IESL members to contribute to this effort by collecting information about current unsafe practices. There are two formatted information gathering forms to be used; please use them to collect information in a consistent manner. Contact any of the committee members if more information is required to complete the forms. Please see next page for names of the committee members Information collected in this survey will be treated as confidential, the places and equipment information will be used only for the defined activities of the study group. Details collected about particular places or equipment will never be disclosed to anyone outside IESL study group.

MEMBERS OF THE STUDY GROUP Eng. Ranjith Rubasinghe Eng. Dayantha Jayarathna Eng. Shavindranath Fernando Eng. Sampath Pathiranaarachchi Eng. Shantha Fernando Eng. Rienzie Fernando Eng. S.R.Munasinghe Dr. Asanka Rodrigo ruba@slt.com.lk dayantha2122@googlemail.com Shavindranath.Fernando@ceb.lk sampath.pathiranarachchi@dialog.lk Shantha.Fernando@gmail.com rienziefdo@gmail.com surumuna@sltnet.lk asanka@elect.mrt.ac.lk, asanka.rodrigo@gmail.com AsokaF@brandix.com;asoka.fonseka@yahoo.com frankfdo315@gmail.com kamalccc2002@yahoo.com bsamarasekara@gmail.com

Eng. Asok Fonseka Eng. Frank Fernando Eng. Kamal Illeperuma Eng. Buddhika Samarasekera