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Home Insulation Safety Plan

About the Home Insulation Program and Safety Plan

Home Insulation Program

The Home Insulation Program (HIP) was announced as part of the $42 billion Nation Building—Economic Stimulus Plan on 3 February 2009. Under the HIP, around 1.2 million households were insulated at a cost of around $1.45 billion.

Recently released emissions projections from the department estimate the cumulative carbon abatement under the HIP from 2009–2020 will be 14.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent avoided, 20 000 gigawatt hours of electricity and 25 petajoules of natural gas.

The program was closed on 19 February 2010 due to escalating safety and compliance concerns, including four tragic installer deaths and a number of fire incidents in households with insulation installed under the HIP.

Home Insulation Safety Plan

On 1 April 2010, the Australian Government announced the Home Insulation Safety Plan to restore confidence in the insulation industry and provide reassurance to households that had insulation installed under the HIP.

There are four key components of the Home Insulation Safety Plan:

The Foil Insulation Safety Program (FISP) to offer all households with foil insulation installed under the HIP a safety inspection plus the option of having the foil removed or, on the advice of a licensed electrician, safety switches installed.
The Home Insulation Safety Program (HISP) to inspect a minimum of 150 000 households with non-foil insulation installed under the HIP. In addition to government-initiated safety inspections, any household with insulation installed under the HIP is able to request a safety inspection through the Safety Hotline (13 17 92).
Industry assistance for reputable businesses and workers impacted by the closure of the HIP in the form of employment opportunities under the HISP and financial and training assistance.
Strong fraud and compliance measures, including independent audits of the HIP, debt recovery activities and referral of cases to police and relevant authorities where appropriate.

On 20 April 2011, the Australian Government announced, following the consideration of the CSIRO and the Booz and Company reports, that the Government will conclude Government-initiated inspections, however householder-initiated inspections will continue until June 2012.