Noy in new order: No such thing as 'faulty wiring'

MANILA, Philippines - It’s time to delete the term “faulty electrical wiring” from police blotters and insurance reports describing fires that are “electrical in origin.”

It is simply not the case, according to President Aquino, who declared May of every year as Electrical Safety Month in Proclamation 193, which he signed on June 27.

“The main reason for the occurrence of fires and electrocution from electrical causes is not faulty wiring but ignorance in the use of electrical appliances and gadgets such as overloading of electrical outlets and the use of counterfeit electrical products such as circuit breakers, power strips, extension cords, batteries and holiday lights that can cause fires, explosions, shocks, and electrocution,” the proclamation stated.

The Integrated Institute of Electrical Engineers in the Philippines, Inc. (IIEE) also pointed out that it is improbable for an establishment or a residence that has been inhabited for years – with all electrical connections working during that time – to be reduced to ashes due to faulty electrical wiring.

“An electrical system won’t work nor function if, in the first place, it is faulty,” the IIEE said.

Aquino, in the order, underscored “a real need to increase public awareness on electrical safety and educate our people in the safe use of electrical appliances and gadget” and “an Electrical Safety Month (May) would amplify and reinforce consciousness on electrical safety.”

Along this line, Aquino mandated the Bureau of Products Standards (BPS) and IIEE to conduct programs and activities on electrical safety throughout the year in coordination with and subject to the approval of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

BPS is a bureau under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) mandated “to develop, promulgate, implement, and coordinate standardization activities with electrical products.”

IIEE is the only professional organization of Filipino licensed electrical practitioners accredited by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). It has about 34,000 members composing 77 chapters nationwide and eight abroad.

IIEE has also signed a memorandum of agreement with International Copper Association-Southeast Asia, a Singapore-based nonprofit organization, to conduct an electrical safety awareness campaign and to provide the opportunity to share best practices and help establish good standard in electrical system in the Philippines.

IIEE national president Armando Diaz said the public is unaware about many things in electrical use and safety so the electrical safety awareness program was designed primarily “to enhance the enforcement of the Philippine Electrical Code to ensure safety in residential buildings, build capacity for the improvement of local electrical inspectors’ skills, and increase public awareness toward electrical safety.”

Renato Sy, Binondo-Paco Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy fire chief, said that an average of two to three fires are reported each day in the country. “Ironically,” he added, “the number of blazes increases in March, which is Fire Prevention Month.”

Nearly 30 percent of the fires are “electrical in origin,” IIEE said, noting that this phrase has never been used to describe an electrical-related fire – the term “faulty electrical wiring” is used instead.

In an electrical engineer’s perspective, faulty electrical wiring as a cause of fire is just “a scapegoat, an excuse for a fire incident with a yet unknown origin.”

According to a report attributed to the late IIEE president Edward Mendoza, the term was coined by insurance companies to give due classification for damaged properties for claiming insurance benefits. “That’s the easiest way they could label a cause of fire,” the report stated.