FIRE & ELECTRICAL SAFETY
A PAT ON THE BACK
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 reach a 25 year milestone this year. Jim Wallace, Associate Director — Products and Technology at the Seaward Group, provides an overview of the workplace electrical safety regulations and their contribution to workplace safety.
When the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR 1989) came into effect in 1990, the aim was to raise the standards of electrical safety within industry and commerce. In doing so the regulations are acknowledged as the starting point for what is now known as portable appliance testing.
It’s perhaps surprising, then, to learn that nowhere in the regulations is there a specific requirement for the testing of portable appliances. Instead, there is an onus on the duty holder to ensure that equipment in the workplace is maintained so as to prevent danger.
It is this obligation to maintain ‘systems’ (including electrical equipment) to prevent danger that introduces the implied requirement to perform periodic inspection and testing. The accepted inference is that without such actions the dutyholder will be unable to establish the potential dangers exposed by faulty or unsafe equipment.
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In the event of electrical accidents, property damage or personal injuries, portable appliance testing can demonstrate a responsible and diligent approach towards safety that may subsequently be required by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), local authorities, insurance companies and other interested parties.
ELECTRICAL FAULTS:
THE CONSEQUENCES There is considerable evidence that faulty electrical appliances continue to post a real threat to people at work and workplace property.
In the opening remarks on electrical safety in the Löfstedt Review, reference is made to the 1,000 workforce accidents and 30 fatalities involving electric shock and burns that are reported to the HSE each year. Indeed, in its own publications, the HSE mentions how “electricity can kill or severely injure people and cause
damage to property. Every year many accidents at work involving electric shock or burns are reported to the Health and Safety Executive.”
“THERE IS AN ONUS ON THE DUTY HOLDER TO ENSURE THAT EQUIPMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IS MAINTAINED SO AS TO PREVENT DANGER.”
Although the HSE is unable to provide detailed data on electricity-related fatalities, accidents and injuries going back 25 years, it seems clear that since the introduction of the EAWR 1989, the incidence or workplace accidents linked to electricity have shown a gradual decline. RIDDOR figures from 2001/2002
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