I’ve had a few questions from clients lately about safety switches. Most people don’t understand the difference between safety switches, electrical circuit breaker, or surge protectors, so I’d spell it out here.

Why You Need A Safety Switch In Your Home

Safety switches are designed to prevent injury or death by monitoring the flow of electricity through electrical circuits or power points. They automatically shut off your electricity supply when the electrical current is detected leaking from faulty switches, wiring or electrical appliances in your home. This stops the chance of current flowing to earth and through a person and electrocuting them.

Installing a safety switch is a reasonable safety measure that protects you, your family and visitors to your property.

What Is The Legal Requirement?

In Victoria, safety switches must be installed on the power and lighting circuits in new and older properties when extensive renovations occur. If it’s essential to have safety switches in new homes, installing them in older properties makes a good deal of sense.

More Gadgets Increase Load

Today more than ever, we have more electrically powered gadgets. Most of us have the latest labour-saving devices like cooking appliances, cleaning appliances, heating/cooling appliances and various indoor and outdoor lighting. And then there’s the ever-increasing range of entertainment systems. TVs and computers in just about every room of the house!

Can the wiring electrical system in your home cope with all these extra high-tech appliances?
Are you sure that your wiring system has not deteriorated or become faulty?
Are all the appliances in your home safe – the old and the new?

Before you find out the hard way, get safety switches installed on your switchboard through a severe electrical incident.

How To Recognise A Safety Switch

If you’re unsure whether you have safety switches fitted to your switchboard, check by looking at your switchboard for a “test reset” button. That tells you that you have a safety switch installed. When you open your switchboard, you should see something like this.

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All homes have a circuit breaker or fuses. These are designed to protect the wiring and appliances within your home. Only electrical safety switches are designed to protect people.

Which Switch Is Which?

Safety switches are often confused with circuit breakers and surge protectors. Here is a quick guide to help understand the differences.

Surge Protectors

Surge protectors safeguard your appliances and wiring from voltage surges like a lightning strike. Safety switches and surge protectors play entirely different roles. Surge protectors protect electrical appliances, and safety switches protect people.

Circuit Breakers

Circuit breakers cut the power off when electrical wiring has too much current. Too much current flowing through a circuit will wire heat or perhaps one of your electrical appliance’s wires to unsafe levels and potentially cause an electrical fire.

Fuses work in the same way as circuit breakers. Both fuses and circuit breakers do not protect people from electrical shock.

Safety Switches

Safety switches monitor the flow of electricity through a circuit. They automatically shut the electricity supply when the current is detected leaking from faulty switches, wiring or electrical appliances. This stops the chance of currents flowing to earth through a person, giving them a serious electric shock.

Are Safety Switches Failsafe?

Nothing is failsafe. You should regularly check your safety switches. Like a smoke detector or other safety device, it cannot protect you if it is not working correctly. It is also essential to ensure your electrical appliances, wiring, extension leads, and all other electrical equipment are regularly checked and kept in good working order.

How To Test Your Safety Switch

We recommend you to test your safety switches at least every three months. Here’s how:

Press the “test” button – this should automatically trip the switch to the “off” position.
Reset by pushing the switch back to on.

If it doesn’t work, contact us immediately.

What To Do When Your Safety Switch Trips

If your safety switch turns off your power, there’s a fault somewhere – either in your wiring or with an appliance. Here’s what to do:

Reset the safety switch.
If it trips again, unplug the last appliance used.
If everything works and it doesn’t trip again, take the appliance you unplugged to a licensed electrical contractor or appliance repairer to be checked.
If the safety switch keeps tripping, disconnect all appliances and plug them in once until you locate the faulty one.
Avoid touching appliances while doing this process.

How To Get A Safety Switch Installed

Are you ready to get safety switches installed on your property? Ensuring your electrical safety is vital to keeping you and your family protected. No matter what device, electrical installation should always be done by a licensed electrician in Melbourne.

Electrical work is never a job, no matter how handy you are around the house! It’s dangerous and illegal.

Only a licensed electrical contractor can install a safety switch and understand electrical safety. So call us for a fast quote. We’ll look after you and keep you safe!