Eaton Electrical are this month encouraging the owners of business properties to check their electrics in order to prevent electrical fires.
This comes as Electrical Fire Safety Week, 10th – 16th November, encourages everyone to be more aware of how to prevent electrical fires.
Business electrical check
Luke Czerpak, Contracts Manager at Eaton Electrical comments: “Whilst electricity is a major cause of accidental fires in UK homes, it is often overlooked as a cause of workplace fires. In fact 22% of all UK workplace fires are caused by electrical faults, killing an average of 200 workers a year and injuring an additional 5,000.”
“Many of these fires could have been prevented by simply checking old wiring and sockets, turning off all electrical equipment when not in use, and ensuring that adaptors and sockets were not overloaded.”
The buildings that Eaton Electrical have found to be most susceptible to electrical fires are those that have had many alterations to their electrics, paired with poor maintenance. Luke comments: “These premises nearly always have old switch gear that does not meet the disconnection times required to avoid overheating of cables. These installations have also nearly always been added to and overloaded, quite often with insufficiently sized cables.”
Property and premises owners are legally required to maintain their electrical installation, under Regulation 4(2) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which states ‘as may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger.’
For business owners, a death or accident in the workplace can have serious financial as well as moral implications. “Any property and premises owners that do not maintain their electrical installations are open to lawsuits, should an accident happen, and failed insurance claims if a fire were to start on their property” he adds. Aside from the cost of the fire, the disruption to the running of a business affected by fire can be devastating – with many businesses never recovering from a major incident.
Eaton Electrical specialise in facilities management providing electrical and lighting maintenance, planned and reactive maintenance, and Electrical Installation Condition Reporting. To find out more about how Eaton Electrical could help you to keep your premises safe, contact 01509 414 222 today.
