Electrical safety at work: eliminating the dangers

Jim Wallace explains the importance of ensuring the safety of electrical equipment used in the workplace.

The HSE claims that nearly a quarter of all reportable electrical accidents involve portable and transportable electrical equipment and reports around 1000 workplace electrical accidents each year.

Poor electrical installations and faulty appliances are also a major cause of workplace fires that are responsible for extensive property damage, as well as posing a further risk to staff.

To overcome such safety threats, planned and proactive workplace electrical safety policies must capable of detecting potential problems with electrical appliances before they occur.

The Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 puts a duty of care on both employer and employee to ensure the safety of all persons using the work premises, but the particular legal requirements relating to the use and maintenance of electrical equipment are contained in the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR).

Regulation 4(2) of the EAWR requires that all electrical systems be maintained, so far as reasonably practical, to prevent danger.

This requirement covers all items of electrical equipment including fixed, portable and transportable equipment - essentially anything connected to a building's electrical system with a plug.

Although the majority of equipment defects can be found during visual inspection - the HSE says that just looking can identify 95% of faults or damage - to identify all potentially dangerous faults inspection needs to be linked with periodic testing to revealing "invisible" electrical faults such as earth continuity, insulation integrity, correct polarity, unacceptable earth leakage and other potential problems.

Cost effective maintenance of portable electrical equipment can therefore be achieved through a combination of user checks, formal visual inspection and electrical testing.

Overall frequency of inspection and testing of equipment will depend on whether the electrical items are rated as Class I or Class II and in what environment they are used.

For example, an office kettle might require a visual inspection every six to 12 months and combined inspection and testing every one to two years.

On a broader front, inspection and testing of some construction equipment might be advisable every 1-3 months, but this can range to up to 12 monthly intervals for some industrial locations, commercial kitchens and other workplaces, to 24 months and above for hotels, some offices and shops.

Those carrying out the testing of portable electrical equipment should be appropriately trained for this work.

Many field service organisations and contracting companies have set up specialist portable appliance testing operations and other organisations have responded with the introduction of in-house testing protocols managed by maintenance managers, safety engineers, site electricians or facilities management personnel.

Combined inspection and testing programmes require greater level of competence than for inspection alone.

However, a range of portable appliance testers (PATs) are available that make the in-service safety testing process safe, fast and easy to carry out.

Test instruments are available which range from the relatively simple to operate pass/fail checkers which will carry out some of the basic safety checks on equipment to provide an immediate "go/no-go" display.

For more comprehensive test requirements, microprocessor controlled testers are available that combine user-friendly operation with a whole range of other features for particular test demands or routines.

The incorporation of Bluetooth technology in modern testers allows the wireless connection of bar code scanners, label printers and other accessories - allowing totally cable-free testing, without the cumbersome and constant plugging in and unplugging of leads and cords.

In addition, the latest generation PAT testers also have the facility to record the results of other safety management data including emergency safety lighting conditions, or condition of fire extinguishers, for example, as part of more comprehensive safety equipment audits.

The use of computerised portable appliance testers also enables test data to be transferred directly from the instrument to a PC-stored database allowing an automatic update of test records, the generation of test reports and advance testing schedules.

Although there is no formal requirement in the EAWR for records, the HSE does recognise that some record of maintenance and test results is a useful management tool for reviewing schemes and demonstrating that safety policies have been enforced.

New PATSolutions concepts streamline the selection of integrated portable appliance testing systems by bringing different test elements into distinct product packages.

Regular inspection, test and maintenance of all electrical equipment used in the workplace is a vital requirement of effective workplace safety management policies.

Back to top