To avoid electrical accidents, emphasis should be laid on usage of standardised equipment, proper electrical design and regular checkings, said a group of eminent panelists while speaking at 'Atmanirbhar Suraksha: Electrical Safety is Non-Negotiable'.
Held on Friday at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, the awareness event was organised by Together VCan, a body that looks to bridge the dialogue between citizens and government.
Meeting was attended by Rajeev Sharma
The meet was attended by Deputy Director General Bureau of Indian Standards Rajeev Sharma, National Federation of Engineers for Electrical Safety President S Gopa Kumar, Maharashtra Fire Service Director S S Warick, Technical Advisor to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Hemant Sali, former state information commissioner Ajit Kumar Jain, among other dignitaries.
The meeting, moderated by Gopa, was largely question-and-answer based with demonstration showing reliability of electrical equipment available in the open market. The discussion was a follow-up of earlier meetings that looked to create awareness on the issue of electrical safety and citizens' responsibility to avoid such mishaps. “After the Kamala Mills fire, the government had set up a group on fire safety. One of the root causes of most fires is electrical short circuits,” said Jain.
Use standardized products to avoid electrical mishaps
“People should take only standardised products. We have also made an app which helps in checking if the product is standardised,” said Sharma. On questions of protective devices not tripping in case of overload that lead to short-circuit, Sali said, “If the design of electrical wiring is not proper, this will happen. There are instances where wire, installation on it, and plug and socket board are not proper. We have seen plugs and sockets of different amperes being used.”
Awareness
Speakers said equipment with schuko plugs prevalent in Germany or those in England were being used that were not appropriate. Even usage of adapters was discouraged. In most buildings, substandard products were used to cut costs. From house wiring to panel board wiring, things are often changed to adjust cost. Speakers said that protective devices that are combinations of both MCB and RCD should be used. Warick said right from development to planning, designing, implementation and life cycle of wires needed to be audited and awareness needed to be created on fire as most fires were due to short circuits.
