Electrical safety tips

 

Familiarity breeds complacency. We use electricity all day, every day and it’s easy to forget that it’s potentially quite dangerous. There are two major categories of risk associated with electricity in domestic situations. These are:

• The risk of shocks or burns for individuals as a result of faulty electrical appliances, installations, or working practices
• Fire or explosion caused by faulty appliances or installations, or by the incorrect use of appliances

While electrical safety standards in the UK are generally very high, maintaining these standards depends at least in part on every householder and user taking reasonable precautions. Here are some important electrical safety tips that you should be aware of:

Golden Rules For Electrical Safety

Never attempt any electrical work that’s beyond your competence. If you’re employing anyone to work on electric installations or appliances, choose suitably qualified and experienced professionals.

• Use appliances in line with their safely instructions. For instance many appliances generate heat and need suitable air gaps around them.
• Remember that water and electricity really don’t mix. Don’t handle any electrical appliance or plug while your hands are wet.
• Never ignore burning smells, frequent fuse failures, plugs that get hot, flickering lights or other warning signs.
• If in doubt, unplug. Switch off at the mains and call an emergency electrical service.

Rules for ensuring safely regarding wiring, plugs and sockets

If you have any doubts about the safety of the main wiring in your home, arrange to get it professionally checked out. It’s much safer, and in the long run could well be cheaper to prevent electricity emergencies than to have to deal with the consequences of them.

• Don’t overload sockets. It can be tempting in older houses with few outlets to use adaptors to add more appliances, but it’s really not safe.
• Ensure cables are safely laid so that they can’t become a trip hazard
• If you must use extension cables, make sure they’re suitably rated for the appliances to be used on them.
• Don’t use an extension designed for indoor use for an outdoor situation.
• Use a safely cap to fill vacant sockets, this is especially important in homes with young children.

Safe appliance usage

Visually inspect appliances, plugs and cables regularly. Never use an appliance with a damaged cable or plug. Faulty or worn cables should be properly replaced as soon as the damage is spotted. If the plug gets warm, there’s a problem.

• Unplug non-essential appliances when they’re not in use
• Secondhand electrical goods should be tested for safely before being sold on. This might not happen if you’re buying from a private seller but you can arrange to get things tested yourself
• Be wary of buying electrical goods from street sellers, markets or other less than established locations. Counterfeit goods give shoddy performance and can be dangerous as well.
• Unplug appliances before attempting to work on them. For example, unplug toasters before attempting to retrieve burnt toast, or washing machines if you need to drain them mid-cycle.

And Finally

Keep a torch by your fuse box or consumer unit so if the lights fail you’re not trying to work in the dark

Find a local electrician or firm you trust, preferably one that offers twenty-four hour services. This way, if anything urgent crops up you can be sure of getting help with the shortest possible delay.