24

FEBRUARY, 2017

Sheds
Safety
Industry

ShedSafe is part of the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) a self-serving group that promotes Australian made steel as the preferred material for manufacturing and construction.  This is obviously a good thing for Australia.

 

ShedSafe claims to be “the industry benchmark for Australian manufactured sheds” and it unquestionably is, considering that there is no other comparable body in Australia. Perhaps if the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Americans or European steel producers had an interest in selling more steel in Australia they could start their own association and call it, say ShedSafer.

It’s worth noting that on closer examination the ShedSafe web site makes use of the words “Accredited” and “Peace of Mind” in association with the word ShedSafe. To the casual observer this could mean that if I buy an “Accredited”  “ShedSafe shed” I will have the “peace of mind” that I will not die from a shed that will fall on me. As those they depict on the ShedSafe home page that presumably are not “Accredited” ShedSafe sheds.  The use of fear in marketing is pure marketing 101.

So let’s set the record straight.  The positioning statement “Just do it”, when associated with Nike probably means put on a pair of Nike shoes and start running. But you don’t need Nike shoes to “Just do it” Adidas, Asics, Reebok, Brooks and many other brands are every bit as good as Nike, if not better.

A ShedSafe shed is no safer than any other shed that has ever been manufactured in Australia that was engineered to the Building Codes of Australia (BCA) by a registered, practicing structural engineer. Simple as that.

“I like nonsense. It wakes up the Brain Cells”. Dr. Suess

A Safe Shed? Or clever marketing?

Let me say this another way, the BCA is a statutory body in Australia that regulates how buildings are engineered. A structural engineer has a legal obligation to engineer a building to the BCA code.  Where an engineer does not and is found to be negligent in their duty the Board of Professional Engineers may disbar that engineer from practising. No different from the disbarring of solicitor or doctors in cases of gross negligence.

I would argue that there would be very few engineers in Australia (some 11,000 of them) that would design an unsafe tin shed that could fall down and kill someone, for the sake a few dollars, at the risk of their entire livelihood.

ShedSafe has no regulatory powers of any kind. ShedSafe is not an engineering organisation. ShedSafe can’t tell you when your shed is going to be delivered and ShedSafe most certainly can’t give you a refund if one of its members goes belly up before you get your shed.

When buying a shed don’t go for meaningless slogans that are designed to self-serve and create fear. Every shed that is designed to the BCA code by a duly registered practicing structural engineer is as safe as any other shed on the Australian market.

When buying a shed go for what you consider to be best for you and if that shed comes with a letter of certification from a practicing, registered structural engineer it’s all the guarantees that you will ever need that your shed is “accredited” and provides “peace of mind”.

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