5 Essential Electrical Safety Rules
Electricity plays such an integral and important role in our everyday lives. For this reason, we can often forget the dangers that electricity can impose if not treated with the care and respect that it needs. According to Electrical Safety First, in the UK alone, just shy of 20,000 accidental electrical fires happen each year.
Because of the dangers that can come from the misuse of electrical items, there are a number of different rules that everyone must follow. While some of the rules should just be common sense, ingraining them into people could help to prevent accidents and injuries down the line.
In this article, we have put together 5 of the most essential electrical safety rules that you must follow to ensure that you are using your electrical equipment in the safest manner.
Why Is Electrical Safety So Important?
Electricity is all around us. Most things within our homes and our workplaces are powered by electricity. Therefore the importance of understanding how to correctly deal with electrical items cannot be understated.
The reality of electricity is that you can not see, smell, or hear it. Therefore, it can be easy to forget that it is even there. But this energy can be extremely hazardous in any environment so understanding what to do and how to do it is extremely important to avoid the main electrical dangers which are electrical shocks, electrical fires and arc flashes.
The reality is that if not handled or used with care and caution, electricity has the power to cause irreversible damage in the form of fires, injuries and even death. Therefore, following the simple electrical safety rules help to ensure your safety when using electrical items like you would on a regular basis.
What Injuries Can Occur From Electricity?
There are numerous serious injuries that can occur if you are mistreating electrical equipment. These are, but not limited to:
- Cardiac arrest caused by electrical shock
- Muscle, nerve and joint damage caused by electrical currents through the body
- Thermal burns caused by direct contact with an electrical source
- Burns caused by high-temperature arc flash
- Hearing loss caused by pressure from a large arc flash blast
- Blindness caused by ultraviolet lights from an arc flash
- Burns caused by large electrical fires
These are just a few of the devastating injuries that can occur when electricity is not treated with the care that it needs. Simply following these five electrical safety rules below will ensure that you do not suffer any of these horrific injuries.
5 Must Follow Electrical Rules
Keep Electrical Equipment Away From Moisture
While this may seem very obvious, it can quite easily be forgotten or neglected both in a residential environment and a commercial environment. As everyone should know, electricity and water do not mix well. In fact, they can even cause considerable dangers such as sparks, serious shock and even fires.
However, what you may not know is that it is not the physical water that disagrees with the electricity. It is actually the impurities such as minerals and dust within the water that causes the reaction between water and electricity. The reaction that this exposure to moisture causes can be extremely dangerous whether it be through serious electrical shocks or a fire that can cause considerable damage.
In order to avoid this kind of damage you should always try and keep your electrical appliances and, more importantly, their outlets and main electricity sources dry. You should also ensure that they are in a location where they will not be prone to any kind of moisture.
Ensure You Are Safely Plugging And Unplugging Electrical Items
This is another extremely important rule that will help to keep you and your electronics as safe as possible. Due to the fact that we all probably plug in multiple electrical items a day, It is also one that many people will not even realise could be putting them at unnecessary risk.
Leaving plugs plugged in, plugging in plugs with damp hands, not switching plugs off, leaving plugs half out and not looking at where you are plugging in your plugs are all very common misuses of electrical appliances. While 9 times out of 10 they may not cause a problem, they are still increasing your chances of danger.
Here are a few tips to follow to ensure you are plugging and unplugging as safely as possible:
- Turn off sockets before plugging in or unplugging
- Always pull out via the plug as opposed to tugging on the cord
- Try not to overuse extension cords
- NEVER cut off the third prong of a plug
- Do not overfill an outlet as this can cause fires
- Do not let children play near outlets
Ensure Regular PAT Testing Is Done
PAT testing is one of the most important things that a business can do to ensure that its electrical equipment and appliances are in perfect working order. It is not uncommon for electrical appliances to have electrical faults or develop them over time. Without regular in-depth PAT testing, this would go unnoticed and could end up causing considerable danger to your employees.
While PAT testing is not a legal requirement for businesses, it is a hugely important process that will help to ensure the safety of all your appliances and your employees. PAT testing is also incredibly important for businesses as they have to uphold the safety standards of electrical appliances.
What Are The Benefits Of PAT Testing?
- Reduces the chances of an electrical fire
- Can help to save a company money in the long term
- Will help you to comply with UK safety regulations
- Making sure that employees and customers are as safe as possible
- Help you to discover faults with your appliances
Make Sure All Electrical Appliances Are Properly Installed
In order to avoid any long-term faults or dangers with electronics and electrical appliances it is integral that you ensure that all electrical appliances are properly installed. Proper installation will ensure that your appliances work as safely and as efficiently as possible. Safety and efficiency are two of the most important elements of a working environment.
Because of this, it is extremely important to go with reputable brands and installers to ensure that you get the best service possible. While this may cost you slightly more to start off, it will most likely save you a huge amount of money down the line.
In addition to this, it is also important to regularly check your electrical appliances for anything that may seem out of the ordinary. This could help you to catch a fault or a problem before it gets much bigger and much more dangerous.
Investigate Warning Signs
During your routine checking and PAT testing, if you see any signs that something may not be in full working order or see any faults then you must investigate. Once you have conducted a thorough investigation it is then your responsibility to ensure that the problem gets fixed and does not become a greater danger to your employees and customers.
If you do not investigate and then act upon the findings then the problem could become far worse and could cause considerable amounts of danger and also potential damage. Acting on the finding of the investigation by solving the problems is just as important as conducting regular checks and testing.
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If you are looking to protect your appliances and your employees then contact us today. We have a huge range of high quality and robust electrical enclosures.
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Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship all of them had hair of gold like their mother the youngest one in curls. Space.
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