West Australian police have again defended their use of Tasers after a man who had doused a house in petrol caught on fire when officers used a stun gun against him.
It was the second time in six months that a man was severely burnt after being stunned by a Taser in the state.
Police said a 44-year-old man had locked himself inside a house in the Perth suburb of Forrestfield and threatened to burn it down.
They said he had spread fuel inside the house and thrown a petrol can at police, soaking a constable's shirt and pants.
The Taser was used when he walked toward the kitchen saying he was going to fetch some matches.
In July, a Warburton man caught alight after being tasered by police who were responding to reports of petrol sniffing in the remote desert community.
The man, a known petrol sniffer, allegedly ran from a house at the officers carrying a container believed to contain fuel and a cigarette lighter.
Police said they asked the man to stop but he continued running toward them, before they used the Taser.
Acting metropolitan region commander Nigel White said on Tuesday that officers had been warned clearly about using Tasers in the vicinity of flammable liquids and fumes after the Warburton incident.
He said an investigation into the Forrestfield incident would determine whether a Taser had been justified.
"We've also got to remember that if the officers had drawn their pistols this person may not be in Royal Perth Hospital at the moment; he may not have survived," Mr White told ABC radio.
"It all gets down to the circumstances at the time and the officers are autonomous in making that decision.
"We are certainly pushing it to our officers that they have to be very wary in the vicinity of flammable liquids and fumes ... that certainly came out of the Warburton experience.
"We have to keep pushing the message that they have to be absolutely 100 per cent sure when they're discharging their Tasers, but it is a very, very important non-lethal force option."
Mr White said most officers handled their Tasers responsibly, but there were instances of improper use.
"One of the most sickening ones was a female officer waving a Taser at a bloke in the water who wouldn't get into the police boat," he said.
"She said, `Get into the boat or I'll whack you with this.' "That, in my opinion, was a gross misuse of police power."
He said while the Taser could not be classified as a defensive tool, it helped police avoid the risk of serious injury.
He said three reviews had been held into Taser procedures in WA and another one was to be held shortly, overseen by a UK expert in options for non-lethal force.