Electric Magnetic Fields (EMFs)
About Electric Magnetic Fields
The electricity industry in Australia has an active management program on the issue of Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMFs) at power frequencies (50 Hz) which has been in place for many years. This page will provide you with information on EMF policies for the electricity industry as well as other documents which will explain more about the possible effects of EMF on health and ways that EMF may be managed. It will also provide you with some links to other websites with information on EMF issues.
The ENA work on the EMF issue is assisted by the EMF Committee comprising representatives of electricity supply businesses from Australia and New Zealand. If you have any queries about the information on this page or the work of the industry, please email us or call +61 2 6272 1555.
EMF Update [PDF 936KB] provides an overview of the latest information and worldwide research on electric and magnetic fields. For a hard copy, please email us.
Electric and Magnetic Fields—What we know [PDF2.2MB] provides a general explanation of what EMFs are and gives an overview of the knowledge and research related to the possible effects of EMF and health at power frequencies .
ENA EMF Scientific Workshop 2010—call for presenters
The annual ENA EMF Scientific Workshop for 2010 will be held at:
the Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street Melbourne
on Tuesday 23 November 2010.
The Workshop is sponsored by the EMF Program of the Energy Networks Association.
If you have suitable research material to present, and you are interested in presenting your research, you are invited to submit your ideas. You are also invited to recommend speakers if you think they are suitable.
Please advise whether you wish to present a paper at the workshop and submit title and a brief (100 word) abstract by Friday 1 October 2010. Acceptances will be advised by 15 October 2010. A full abstract of the paper for inclusion in Workshop handouts will be required by 12 November 2010.
The guest speaker, John Dockerty of Dunedin School of Medicine University, University of Otago New Zealand, will speak on childhood leukaemia and the current international research study.
ARPANSA is finalising its new ELF Standard for Australia which includes provisions for precaution. The draft Standard is still a major focus for EMF management in Australia and papers related to this are encouraged. Preference will be given to papers related to power frequency EMF (50Hz) but papers related to RF matters would also be of interest.
As in past years, presentations or abstracts as available will be published on this website.
There will be no fees for attendance at the Workshop and the Workshop is open to the general public. Morning and afternoon teas and lunch will be provided.
For further inquiries you can email Richard Hoy or telephone him on 03 9894 7843.
EMF Scientific Workshops—presentation papers
February 2008
This protocol for the measurement of residential EMFs within Australia was developed to assist the electricity supply industry and the public in the management of the EMF issue.
January 2008
This document provides information that could be applied for limiting production of and exposure to EMF from low voltage electrical installations and sources that do not belong to the electricity supply industry, such as domestic wiring. This includes designing distribution facilities, switchboards and higher current wiring systems having regard to their capacity to produce magnetic fields, and installing or siting them having regard to proximity and exposure.
Draft ARPANSA Standard
ENA Submission on Draft ARPANSA Standard
The Energy Networks Association has lodged a submission with the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), in which it raised serious concerns about the draft electric and magnetic fields EMF (0 to 3 kHz) Standard.
The electricity supply industry has supported the ARPANSA process for development of a new EMF Standard to update the existing NHMRC Interim Guidelines of 1989.
Two separate submissions were lodged with ARPANSA, one for the Standard and one for the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS). ENA had aspects of the draft Standard reviewed by four consultants from outside the electricity industry and their reports are also attached to the ENA submission.
ENA has significant concerns with the Standard in its current draft form in that it does not provide improved health benefits to the community, is overly conservative, and will cause the industry significant implementation and ongoing costs.
ENA has pointed out that increased electricity supply costs required to achieve compliance with the draft Standard will be passed through to the community by electricity regulators.
The community and the industry should expect to see substantial health benefits arising from implementation of the Standard that are commensurate with the forecasted costs. ENA is concerned that, while the ARPANSA draft Standard in its current form could result in significant costs to the Australian electricity supply industry and consumers, there will be no commensurate health benefits for the Australian community.
Further issues relating to compliance with the draft Standard may also impact on the reliability of electricity supply and functioning of the electricity market.
The main points of ENA concern on the ARPANSA Draft Standard are listed below.
Main Points of Industry Concern with Draft ARPANSA Standard
Key areas of concern to the electricity supply industry in relation to the ARPANSA draft EMF Standard and Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) as released on 7 December 2006 are:
- ARPANSA has not demonstrated new health effects from EMF needing protection or a failure of the existing EMF management arrangements to prevent adverse health outcomes.
- ARPANSA has not demonstrated in the draft Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) that adoption of the new draft Standard, which is based on biological effects rather than health effects, will result in improvements in public health.
- The estimated potential costs to the industry to achieve compliance with the draft Standard are approximately $3b with further ongoing costs to maintain compliance into the future. Increased costs required to ensure compliance with the Standard would be passed through to customers in terms of increased electricity charges.
- The industry believes that whether the Standard is adopted as a regulatory standard (Option 2) or advisory standard (Option 3), the costs to the industry will be very large and not justified in terms of health outcomes.
- The draft Standard proposed is overly conservative and costly, and the levels of protection have not been justified in terms of demonstrable benefits to the community.
- The increased level of protection in the draft Standard compared with the most recent international EMF Standard developed by US Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in 2002 has not been justified.
- Particular operational areas for the industry affected by the draft Standard are:
- protection of the public from electric field exposure on 330 and 500 kV easements
- protection of the public from magnetic field exposure near cable risers and pad mounted transformers
- employee exposure to magnetic fields during live-line work, and
- employee exposure to magnetic fields when working in cable pits, tunnels and basements, particularly in major urban areas.
- Operational restrictions due to the latter two areas may require cables to be de-energised for maintenance work with consequences for electricity supply and efficient operation of the electricity market. Consequential costs of de-energising cables have not been included in the $3b estimate provided by ENA.
- The increased use of warning signs in public areas required by the draft Standard could be expected to increase community concern about the EMF issue rather than reduce it.
- The industry is not averse to the use of precautionary measures in areas where science is not yet certain and already has a policy of ‘prudence’ in such instances for EMF (see ENA EMF Policy Statement). However, it is concerned that the place of precaution in the draft Standard is not clear and further careful editing is required to ensure that precautionary measures to be implemented are appropriate.
- The draft Standard does not take into account accessibility of electricity lines.
- The draft Standard has been reviewed independently by several experts in this area, both here and in the USA, who broadly confirm our views.
The following documents are also available:
- Standard Basis for Quoting Transmission line EMFs
- Comments on the ‘Corona–Ion’ Hypothesis—Information Paper [228 KB] (updated November 2009)
- ENA ESI EMF measurement Protocol for High Fields Areas
ENA Contact:
Simon Bourke
