The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) is cautioning the public against the purchase and use of substandard cables on the market, warning that these cables can cause fires.

The GSA says it recently conducted a random test on 20 brands of imported electrical cables on the market in Accra and found that, 19 of them failed its critical test.

The inability of these cables to pass the test means they are dangerous to health and can easily catch fire.

Similar tests carried in the Ashanti and Northern regions found similar results.

Head of the Authority, Prof Alex Dodoo, said the severity of the situation has caused his outfit to heighten its market surveillance in a bid to clamp down on the sale of these substandard cables.

“We are appealing to all suppliers that before you buy from a wholesaler, please check that those cables have passed through our hands. If they have not passed through our hands and we find them from you, you bear the liability for selling them,” said Prof Dodoo.

Meanwhile, the brands of cables that failed the critical tests have been marked for confiscation, Prof Dodoo said.

He revealed that the GSA and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are working to ensure that substandard cables do not find their way onto the market.

Prof Dodoo is also calling for a national discussion on the importation of the substandard electrical cables that have been blamed in many instances for domestic fires.

“Dodgy products are like bad air; they affect everybody. Every bad product is a like a bad air, nobody can say they can escape from it so let’s work together to solve the problem,” he said.

Reacting to the move by the GSA, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Prince Billy Anaglatey, said the caution corroborates the Service’s own findings many months ago.

“The Ghana National Fire Service has severally educated the public on substandard electrical cables, switches and sockets. Because in our investigation trying to find causes of fires, we established that many of these fires are as a result substandard electrical cables, switches and sockets that people use to do wiring,” he said.

He has asked the public to engage the services of professional electricians when wiring their buildings.