In a campaign launched today, Australian Industry Group is shining the spotlight on our standards and regulation professionals who form the committees that contribute to product safety and innovation.
Few cases illustrate the purpose of appliance standards more starkly than the tragic incident in which a child crawled into a front-loading washing machine and a wash cycle was initiated, resulting in death.
The event shocked regulators, industry and the public alike. It exposed a gap between what consumers reasonably assume appliances will prevent and what some designs historically permitted.
That tragedy reinforced a core principle that underpins modern appliance safety: standards must address foreseeable misuse and abnormal scenarios, not just intended operation. Domestic appliances operate in uncontrolled home environments, often around children, and safety requirements must reflect that reality. In the case of washing machines, this has driven renewed focus on design measures which requires dual‑action start that prevent unintentional activation.
From 28 June, this principle becomes applicable for all suppliers, with Amendment 1:2024 to AS/NZS 60335.2.7:2020 applying to all washing-machine manufacturers supplying Australia and New Zealand. The amendment is not incremental housekeeping; it represents a deliberate shift in how appliance safety is defined, translating lessons from tragedy into enforceable technical requirements.
At the centre of this work sits Committee EL-002 (Household and Similar Electrical Appliances), a joint Australia-New Zealand standards committee operating under the shared framework of Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand. EL-002’s role is to ensure appliances remain safe when real-world behaviour challenges design assumptions.
As Electrolux Group's Reena Subramaniam, representing Australian Industry Group on EL-002, has observed: “Standards play a critical role in challenging manufacturers to think beyond expected use and to design products that remain safe in real homes, not idealised conditions.”
EL-002 develops and maintains safety standards for appliances used daily in millions of homes through a structured, consensus-based process. Ultimately, the effectiveness of this joint standards system depends on the commitment and diligence of committee members, whose largely voluntary work ensures that tragic events lead to lasting safety improvements, rather than being repeated.
We’ll highlight a committee every month leading up to November.
James is the Lead – Standards and Product Regulation at Australian Industry Group. He manages members' engagement with Standards Australia (circa 250 representatives on 350 committees), regulatory advocacy in the electrical and plumbing space and member forums on a range of topics.
James holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and a master's in Professional Accounting.
