i have a question. my son yesterday had solar power panels put on his house. this morning a the circuit breaker cut the power to the house. He went out and opened the lid of the fuse box and a part of the box exploded in his FACE. his eyebrows are singed and front of his hair. his eyesight is ok but very red swoleen lids and eyes. doc says it will be ok and gave him burn cream for round the eyes. he can see ok. thank God. it threw his onto the grass. the flash and explosion. and he went into shock.after getting him seen to his wife rang the solar place and they immediately sent an electrician. my question is what he can do about this. this is serious grose negligence as far as i can see. he could have been blinded god forbid. what recourse would he have. does anyone know? thanks
How can you be sure the âexplosionâ was due to the solar installation? What actually blew up?
Perhaps the circuit-breaker was doing exactly what it was supposed to do and cutting the power before a major problem developed - perhaps not. Perhaps as part of the installation the power board was compromised. Perhaps the son pushed the breaker back in without finding out WHY it had cut the circuit and so he contributed to the problem. So far we donât know.
I suggest a qualified electrician needs to find out what actually went wrong before seeking recourse against anybody.
He opened the box and leaned forward a bit to take a look and kaboom. Just the lid of the access to the power. Thats it
yes. i think an investigation should be done
Either call the regulator and ask for an urgent inspection or get a different electrical contractor out there to give a report. Iâd not let the solar people touch/change anything, as evidence could be lost.
Edited to add: Maybe start Here (look for your state) or possibly here Safework (assuming NSW) - if they donât handle âincidentsâ they may well be able to refer you on âŠ
thank you. i will forward this to my son. much appreciated.
The whole side of the box. you know when you go out to the electric box and lift the lid to see whats underneath and then kaboom.
A photo would be great if you could get one.
Impossible. It was a blast of a ball of fire from the box. A photo of my injured son of course is easy to supply
I donât mean the electrical fire, but rather, what it looked like after the incident.
good point but too late. they already been to fix it and with all the fuss about what happened no one thought of it i guess
Now that it has been fixed, what did they say was the cause?
They dont know. It shouldnât have happened and they never touched the box. Typical
hmm, that sounds like they have given you a dodgy answer. It certainly should not have happened, and if they donât know what caused it, how did they fix it, and how sure are they that it wont happen again?
Your son should definitely notify (and lodge a complaint) to the government electrical safety regulator in the relevant State. There has been a lot of sub-standard solar installation issues. Its unfortunate a lot of the evidence is no longer available, but at the very least, your son will end up with an independent assessment of the complete solar installation to ensure it has been installed in accordance with Australian Standards. If the installer has a record of poor installations already, then it is possible the safety regulator will take further action, as it sounds as if the installation company failed in its duty of care to âothersâ.
He wont. He is still off work with a bit bleary eyesight. He got a real shock as in it scared him and at this stage wants to forget it. He doesnât want a fight with them. They denied even touching the box which i find hard to imagine. I am going to let it rest a little while til he is back at work and then i will see if he will at least follow your suggestion above. i think its a good one. by people not reporting this is how shoddy work places get away with things. its not good.
If your son only had his PV system installed the day before he looked in the meter box, then it probably was not connected, as the metering and connection approvals usually take some time after an installation is completed. Generally an installer will only briefly connect the system to check that it works, but it should not be operated until all the service provider has approved it, and possibly replaced the meter.
Iâd need a lot more information before venturing an opinion. It may not be negligence so I would collect all the information regarding the initial fault and the actions taken by your son.
The blast may have been pure accident, faulty equipment, faulty installation or operator error.
I would be contacting LHD
