Safety in the Home: I am Woman

Generally speaking, our society takes safety pretty seriously.  This can only be a good thing. But when it comes to safety in the home...well, the crickets couldn’t be louder.  As I have pointed out before, this vacuum disproportionately affects women and children. Women are more likely to stay at home doing housework or caring for children. I would like to say our society has evolved, but statistics from the ABS tell otherwise.

On 29 May 2010, a young mother woke from a sound slumber. She felt sick. She went and checked on her two young boys Tyler and Chase, aged six and eight years old respectively. They were deceased. It wasn’t until autopsies were carried out that it was realised the boys had passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning. The police’s initial reaction was to blame Vanessa. Her shoulder was dislocated when she was thrown into the paddy wagon. Tenants who write to me often say the authorities do not listen to them.
 

 

Carbon monoxide is toxic, colourless, odourless, and tasteless gas. An expert tested the heater and found it was emitting extremely high amounts of carbon monoxide. A thick layer of built-up soot prevented the heater from working properly. The heater would have worked properly if it had been cleaned. It had not been serviced for about ten years. Energy Safe Victoria recommends that open-flued appliances be checked every two years. All the details are in the coroner’s findings.

This family had lived in a rental property. The real estate agency had recommended that there be a regular service of gas and electrical appliances. The coroner found, as a matter of fact, that the failure of the landlords to comply was ‘regrettable’ but ‘there was nothing to alert them to any problem with the appliance’. Magistrate Heffey went on to say that there was nothing to suggest that they would not have responded appropriately. And further, any member of the community would not have been aware of the dangers presented by an unserviced gas service.

The coroner made a number of recommendations. One of her recommendations was that the consumer booklet – Renting a Home: A Guide for Landlords and Tenants – be redrafted. Amongst other things, she said:

1. Tenants should be informed as to the safety of gas appliances
2. Tenants should request to have gas appliances checked

I was overcome by  anger and sorrow as I read the coroner’s recommendations. It was a very conservative judgment. The sad thing is that the deaths of these two young boys was entirely preventable. Magistrate Heffey puts the onus on tenants when she suggests it is their responsibility to ask for evidence that the heater has been serviced. But why should safety be the tenant’s responsibility? It seems to me that the coroner is really out of touch with community expectations. It just doesn’t sound like she has a good understanding of challenges tenants face during their tenancy.

At a bare minimum, rental houses should be safe and habitable. Tenants have a right to expect rental homes to be safe. In many cases, tenants are happy just to have their application approved. In the usual course of things, tenants are not going to rock the boat by requesting checks on things like heaters. Nor will they ask for clauses to be inserted into the rental agreement. Leases are usually presented to tenants on a ‘take it or leave it basis’. In the United Kingdom, landlords are legally required to service heaters on rental premises every year. Last year, a UK landlord was jailed and fined for risking the lives of his tenants.

Magistrate Heffey could have recommended law reform. She could have recommended the introduction of a general statutory right to safety, and the implementation of strong enforcement mechanisms. But she did not do that. And really, it’s quite easy to carry out an investigation of potential hazards. It’s done all the time in workplace. It goes by the name of occupational health and safety.

Women and children should expect and demand safety in the home. It’s not that much to ask. We should be looking after the safety of mums and the kids in the home. And just so you know, symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include nausea, headache, and fatigue. And be careful – don’t assume your landlord is thinking about the safety of you and your family. In my next instalment, I will be looking at what happened to proposed laws about mandatory servicing and detectors.