Fire Statistics 2011 -2012 Domestic House Fires, but it will never happen to you?

Every year in the UK people are needlessly injured or killed in house fires. In the UK there were 44,000 house fires in the year 2011-12. Of these, 37,600 were accidental fires and 14,700 fires were in relation to misuse of electrical appliances and equipment. It comes as no surprise to realise that electrical fire in the home is a growing problem.

Unfortunately many electrical fires that occur could have been easily prevented. Fires in the home do not make sensational headlines. They happen behind closed doors and many people believe it won't happen to them.

Fire brigades up and down the country are issuing warnings to take more care with electricity and electrical items. The warnings come as stark reminders to householders who may be taking risks with electricity and serve as a reminder that electricity is dangerous and does kill. Just following a few simple safety tips will ensure that the likelihood of an accidental fire in your home drops considerably.

Fires can cause devastating consequences and if you are lucky enough to survive uninjured, you will have caused costly damage to your property.

Electrical fires accounted for 28% of accidental fires in the UK. They were made up of space heating appliances, electrical distribution and other electrical appliances. Electrical related fires account for over a quarter of accidental fires and is the second largest cause of accidental fire in the UK. The biggest cause of accidental fires at 52% was improper use of cooking appliances.

The Majority of household fires in the UK are down to bad DIY and, It is a statisatical fact that 72% of domestic property in England and Wales needs to be rewired Now, the life expectancy of wiring is about 25-30 years, many of the properties have not been rewired since the late 50's and some even older.

Using faulty electrical appliances and leads do kill. Despite constant warnings being issued by fire brigades and other key electrical charities such as the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) using faulty appliances and leads accounted for 19 fatalities in the UK in 2011-12. This highlights the importance of regularly checking leads for signs of damage and ensuring the appliance is clean and operated in accordance with manufacturers instructions.

The misuse of appliances and equipment was the biggest cause of non-fatal casualties – 2,600 in accidental house fires. This has now taken over the casualty rate for chip pan fires which has been declining since 2004.

The news is not all bad though as it does appear that householders are beginning to take more care in the use of electrical appliances with casualty rates falling by 80 to 900 cases in 2011-12. One of the main causes of unnoticed house fires are leaving items such as hair straighteners accidentally switched on and overloaded sockets. Householders are being encouraged to unplug electrical items when not in use and not to rely heavily on extension leads.

Poor and inferior wiring in the home (either due to deterioration or from tampering) contributes to accidental fires also. Fire can break out inside walls without the householder realising. Any apparent problem such as hissing or bad smells coming from sockets, flickering lights and any other concern should receive attention from a qualified, registered electrician. The best way to prevent such problems occurring in the first place is to have an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) carried out. For home owners, the recommended Maximum time span between inspections is no more than 10 years, the requirements for rental properties are less. This ensures that any potential problems with the electricity supply can be addressed and rectified before any real problems occur. Unexpected smells and sounds coming from your electrical outlets are a sign that something is not right.

Finally, ensure your home has a working smoke alarm. Should a fire break out in your home you will be alerted and will avoid you and your family becoming trapped in your home or intoxicated by smoke and fumes caused by the fire. Fire alarms can be either battery operated or mains powered. It is important to locate the fire alarms correctly in your home so that they are most likely to alert you in the event of a fire. An electrician can advice on this or alternatively your local fire brigade will be happy to advice. Fire alarms should be tested at regular intervals, ideally weekly to ensure they are functioning correctly.

What ever you do, make sure you always check out your contractor, see if he is registered on the approved bodies website never take there word for it and if it does comer back as not registered phone the approved body and check, before you ever get into a contract with the Electricians.

For Further assistance Call Safe-Electric on 0800 542 0638 or contact us via our website www.safe-electric.com

 MILLIONS OF BRITS COULD BE FACING A DIY DEATH TRAP

Electrical Safety Council charity issues stark warning as study reveals approximately 6.2 million Brits could be living in an illegally wired home that may be putting lives at risk.

What devoted DIYers are failing to realise is that they could face hefty fines or even prosecution by doing what they believe is simple electrical work around their home.

A new survey by charity the Electrical Safety Council shows that millions of people are attempting electrical jobs such as rewiring and installing complicated electrical equipment in an attempt to save cash.  What they don’t know is that by law, electrical work must be carried out by a registered electrician, or at least approved by a local building control office.

Experts are worried that this lack of understanding could result in serious injury or death, with figures from the Electrical Safety Council showing that electricity kills at least one person in their home each week, with almost 1,000 seriously injured every day¹.  By placing more importance on cost, rather than credentials, many homeowners could be putting their lives at risk in an attempt to save money.

The survey reveals that one in seven consumers have rewired areas of their home, one in five have carried out a fuse box change, one in six have attempted an electrical installation in the garden, while one in eight have or would attempt to install under floor areas of their home.

As a result, more than a third of registered electricians are called to fix botched jobs at least once a month and almost one in five contractors have seen dodgy electrical work, which has caused injury to the homeowner. 

Shockingly, a quarter of Brits did not know that if you are conducting electrical work in the bathroom, kitchen or garden you need to get the work done by a registered electrician or notify your local building control office, otherwise the work could be illegal.

Further to this, one in six did not know it is a criminal offence to carry out work that does not comply with building regulations, while one in five are not aware that when moving into a new home, you should always ask to see a certificate to prove the house meets the current wiring regulations.

The Electrical Safety Council is therefore urging anyone planning on carrying out electrical work in their home to always use a registered, competent electrician to ensure that the work will always meet the necessary regulations.

Phil Buckle, director general of the Electrical Safety Council, comments: “Some of the figures from this survey are truly alarming.  There is clearly a need to continually educate homeowners on the dangers of electricity in the home.

“With this in mind, the Electrical Safety Register was launched by our  charity in partnership with the Electrical Contractors’ Association to offer consumers an easy to use database, where they can find a certified contractor and be sure that the work that is carried out will be safe and up to standard.

“We hope that by launching the Register, we can help to reduce the number of deaths and accidents that occur each year through incorrect electrical work.”

Tony Cable, spokesperson for the Electrical Safety Register, adds: “These shocking survey results really do highlight the importance of the Electrical Safety Register.

“It is vital that people make sure that the electrician is registered, especially since less than a quarter of those asked even bother to check their sparky is fully certified.

“When looking for someone to carry out electrical work, too many homeowners are making their decisions based on cost, rather than credentials; a mistake that can prove to be deadly.  Therefore we are urging people to use the Electrical Safety Register to help them to find a competent local electrician, so that they can stay safe in their home.”

For peace of mind contact us today on: - 0800 542 0638

Article from Electrical Safety Council Website

Common Sense, insanity 20 mins later!

After Testing and Inspecting a School last weekend, the headmistress has asked us to start the remedial works immediately, the safety of my children is paramount over any financial concerns, Great at last somebody that puts safety before saving money :-)

The next phone call was from the School accountant, can you not do it any cheaper :-( 

When will people learn Electricity Kills, it does not care about the bottom line, it does not care that you’re the FD of the organisation, it will without compunction Kill you, given the right circumstances.

In the case of this school 3 x C1, 145 x C2 and 6 x C3 codes, it’s been maintained by handymen over the years and odd job people that have fixed bits as needed says it all really.

Phoned the Headmistress and asked her if she wanted us to continue with the work Answer YES, Common sense prevailed again, don't think she was at all that happy with the Accountant, we even advised her to go out and get three prices before appointing us.

Our price was actually in the middle, but she had decided to use us as we already knew the school and she trusted us, result common sense and sound thinking, there are some sesnsible people out there, unfortunalty the ones that normally control the purse strings, only think about the bottom line!

For Peace of mind get us to inspect and test your property before the inevitable happens, call us today on 0800 542 0638 it’s not a case of if, it’s a case of when; if you have not maintained it with properly qualified personnel.

In the present economic climate so many people have not carried out there due diligence, and failed to inspect at the proper times, hoping to get away with it, this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Where To Fit A Consumer Unit

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An often overlooked element of fitting a consumer unit is the location where it is placed. Consumer units are famously located in some of the most awkward places imaginable often behind piles of storage boxes, in the darkest corner at floor level! Many of these may well have been fitted before the days of regulations and on replacement will need to be situated in the correct location. 

Location

When choosing where to place the consumer unit, thought needs to be given to how the consumer unit will be accessed. Consumer unit locations are notorious for being in the most awkward of places. It is important that it is easy to reach the consumer unit and there is sufficient space around the consumer unit to operate switches and protective devices such as RCDs. It must also be easily accessible for an electrician to access the consumer unit to enable them to carry out inspections and maintenance which may require the electrician to access all connections to the consumer unit. Space is therefore essential! Unsuitable consumer unit locations include enclosures, compartments or other confined spaces.

Consumer unit switches and protective devices within a consumer unit need to be easily accessible to the householder. Access which would require the use of a ladder or similar reaching platform would not be suitable. Thought needs to be given to the needs of the householder particularly if they are disabled, elderly or infirm. In these cases, access to switches and protective devices should comply with BS 8300 – Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people.

Environmental Conditions

Particularly attention needs to be given to consumer units located outdoors or where environmental factors need to be taken into account. Such locations should always be avoided but if such a location should be necessary, a consumer unit should be of a design appropriate to the situation in which it is to be used. Outdoor locations require weatherproof equipment and weather protection should also be provided to the user.

Preferred Mounting Height

The Part M of the building regulations for England and Wales requires reasonable provision to be made for people to gain access and to use the building and its facilities. Guidance on meeting the requirements is given in Approved Document M. Particular attention needs to be given to Section 8 of approved document M as this includes the objective of assisting people whose reach is limited to use their home more easily by locating wall mounted switches and socket outlets no higher than 1200mm and not lower than 450mm above finished floor level.

Whilst Approved Document M does not recommend a height for new consumer units, the 2013 version of Approved Document P points out that one way of complying with Part M in new dwellings is to mount consumer units so that the switches are between 1350mm and 1450mm above floor level. At this height, the consumer unit is out of reach of young children yet accessible to other people when standing or sitting.

Although this would only apply to new buildings, it is worth giving thought to the mounting height on the consumer unit to so that the consumer unit is out of reach of young children yet accessible to other people when standing or sitting.
When taking all these principles and building regulations into account it comes as no surprise that relocating a consumer unit is work that must be carried out by a Part P Registered electrician who are there to ensure your safety and well being.

Source: NICEIC Domestic Electrical Installation Guide 17th Edition and Approved Document P, 2013 Version.

For Peace of Mind call us today on 0800 542 0638 or Find us on our Facebook Page

Commercial businesses, risk losing everything!

With their current cavalier attitude to “Electrical Safety” for their customers, and their employees as well.

In the current economic climate, as you would expect large and small organisations alike are seeking to get as much as possible for as little as possible, in many instances this is good common-sense which should have been practised by all organisations for many years.

However, when it comes to electrical safety, cheap is definitely not always better, with the current stranglehold with many large FM companies, on the electrical testing market for large organisations, many vital things are being missed, but as long as they get there piece of paper. They don't care?

Many testing companies out there promise the earth and deliver a farthing, yes all that will show my age.

I was sitting in the offices of a large organisation. Not long ago providing technical breakdown of their electrical report, when I was actually asked to sit in on a meeting the testing contractor who was vying for their work, without recourse to their existing test report.

He promised that they could provide a proper certificate by only doing 10% sample testing and this is perfectly legal. However, they would be charging a small admin fee for writing up each of the circuits that they didn't test on the surface. To the uninitiated this is a wonderful deal.

To say I got grilled over this was an understatement, no point me even considering trying to justify my point of view, just referred them to the NICEIC the ECA and NAPIT, and told them to phone their technical desk and check what this other company had said, to say I was appalled was an understatement.

So were the above organizations, according to the client, who then invited me back to do the work, yes there are some sensible clients out there!

So let me explain, the rules, you can only do sample testing, if you have full results for every circuit on every fuse-board from your previous test report, had they bothered to check this No, did they asked for a copy of the report prior to provide a price No, so had they, accepted the cost and engaged them they would have a piece of paper that wasn't worth the paper it's printed on , in fact the client would have been in breach of their legally duty of care to ensure safe testing practices and the employment of a competent contractor.

Oh, did I forget! under the new legislation. It is the client's responsibility to ensure that the contractor they employ does the job properly! And they can go to prison if they don't?

Unfortunately, like most commercial enterprises from shops, factories to office space.

Their main consideration is only money and the least inconvenience!

This unfortunate cavalier attitude that has been prevalent for the past 25 years in our industry has led to more and more companies that provide a cheap price using every loophole in the book as long as they don't get caught, that is, just to get the work.

The amount of buildings I go into, that are supposedly covered by current test certificates, where I personally would like to physically turn them off because of the dangers I see are now fast outweighing the good ones, due to years of neglect and worthless test and reports.

Time and time again I see reports which are basically worthless pieces of paper supplied to the customer from FM companies and cheap do it at any cost testing contractors, who put in a cheap price just to get remedial works, and in over 60% of the cases I have seen personally prices that are less than half the actual cost of doing the work; but the remedial costs are twice the amount, so the clients think, they are getting a good job, and a very cheap price and then pay through the nose at the end.

The misconception from estate agents that they can get five if not six EICR reports done per day by their engineers at £45 each is an illusion, pure economics state that by the time you've driven to a job with 1 man or two men done the inspection work on site at least another hour minimum if you're lucky, if they bother to  inspected properly and then driven back, produced paperwork your total time spent on the job, For two men is approximately 8 hours.

Pure maths equates to £5.62 p and hour, a decent electrician will cost somewhere between £13 and £15 per hour and a properly qualified time served engineer who understands the requirements of  inspection can cost anywhere between £15 and £25 an hour, (More knowledge is  needed for more complex systems), not hard to work out the type of report you'll get!

How long is it going to take, I hear so often well, I don't know, can you tell me what's wrong with the system or what's right with the system, I don't know! But you must know! You do this all the time!

Well some of them take 10 min others can take an hour, totally depends on what I find.

How many more lives will be put at risk, where money is the ultimate aim along with inconvenience!

For me personally, one life is too many, unfortunately statistics show hundreds of lives are lost every year to electrocution, and in most cases these lives could have been saved if it had been Inspected / Maintained properly.

But the work has been carried out properly, we used Fred the painter to install the electrical systems, he said he know how! or labourers being used to do electrical work and many items missed because the client does not want to pay the true price, of doing it properly! So the cheap contractor cuts corners in order to get the job at any cost.

Time and time again, I have lost work personally and know many other people within the industry that have lost work, because their quote, /estimates were too high.

Yet when the other cheap contractor who won the job, gets to site to carry out the work he finds a number of items that need to be done that were not quoted for by him, yet under close inspection were quoted for by  the other apparently expensive contractors.

Yet I'm called back six months, to two years later to fix the problems that they've got the other contractor in to fix on a number of occasions and paid nearly double the price in the end, to have the work put right.

It is time that this country wakes up and realises that incompetence and cheap contractors do not save you money, they in fact cost you double the amount in the end.

If you look at it properly and get your FDs to investigate the real cost when you're contractor has to come back multiple times for quote,  “Apparently additional works." That you’re only actually paying for what should have been done right in the first place?

For Further information call 0800-542-0638

Or contact us via our website: - www.safe-electric.com

CONFUSION BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS EXPOSES MILLIONS TO SERIOUS ELECTRICAL DANGERS

CONFUSION BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS EXPOSES MILLIONS TO SERIOUS ELECTRICAL DANGERS

•       Electricity kills at least one person every week in the home and almost 1,000 are seriously injured every day - private tenants are disproportionately affected by electric accidents
•             Rise in non-professional landlords - confused over responsibilities - puts tenants at further risk
•       ESC produces tips for landlords and urges tenants to use its new home safety app
•             ESC calls on landlords to ensure properties have adequate RCD protection

As the number of people becoming landlords soars, with 13% of UK adults considering leasing out a property in the near future , research from the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) has found that misunderstandings between landlords and tenants over responsibilities for safety are exposing millions of people to life-threatening electrical dangers.

Electricity kills at least one person every week in the home and almost 1,000 are seriously injured every day. Electricity causes around 20,000 fires a year - almost half of all accidental UK house fires. The ESC has found that of all the people receiving an electric shock, private tenants are disproportionately affected: with 16% of the UK population living in private rented properties, they account for 20% of UK adults receiving an electric shock.

The ESC is concerned that the rise in inexperienced landlords – many of whom are finding it easier to rent out their property than sell it – will further compromise safety. More than one fifth of all private tenants (21%) already report concerns with the electrical safety in their home and three quarters of private tenants (75%) can’t recall discussing electrical safety with their landlord.

Confused over responsibilities

The ESC’s research also found that landlords and tenants are confused about their responsibilities whereby three in ten landlords and two-fifths of renters do not know who is responsible for electrical safety in their rented properties (29% and 40% respectively).

By law, landlords must ensure electrical installations and wiring are maintained in a safe condition throughout the tenancy. And tenants should feel obliged to flag electrical problems as soon as they appear, as well as maintain any electrical items they bring into the house. The consequences for not understanding obligations can be serious. If a landlord is found to be negligent over electrical safety it can lead to prosecution, with a fine of up to £5,000 on each count or imprisonment. This may come as a shock to the 38% of landlords and over 65% of letting agents, who don’t believe there are any penalties for failing to maintain safety.

For further advice call us today on 0800-542-0638.

Or contact us at www.safe-electric.com

Fuseboxes explained

Fuseboxes explained

Your Fuse board – the fuse board also known as consumer unit should be easy to find. You should make sure you know where it is in case you ever need to turn the electricity off in an emergency. It usually contains three things, and they are used to control and distribute electricity around your home. They are: The main switch; Fuses and/or circuit breakers; and Residual Current Devices.

One simple piece of advice, get an Emergency light installed by your Fuse-board, that way when the power trips out you can at least see what is going on, no trying to find a torch or light a match or lighter, and potentially burn the house down!

A) Main Switch – this allows you to turn off the electricity supply to your home. You might have more than one mains switch, for example if your home has electric storage heaters. In this case you may have a separate fuse board.

B) Residual Current Devices (RCD) these are switches that trip a circuit under dangerous conditions, and instantly disconnect the electricity.

If your home has one or more RCD, test them regularly. Just follow the instruction label, which you should find near to the RCD. It should read as follows:

“This installation, or part of it, is protected by a device which automatically switches off the supply if an earth fault develops. Test every three months by pressing the button marked ‘T’ or ‘Test’.”

Testing the button every three months is important. The device should switch off the electricity. You should then switch it back on to restore the electricity. Do not hold the test button for a long period if the RCD does not trip. If it doesn't switch off the electricity when you press the button, contact a registered electrician.

C) Circuit Breakers – these are automatic protection devices in the fuse-board that switch off a circuit if they detect a fault. They are similar in size to fuses, but give more precise protection. When they ‘trip’, you can simply reset the switch. But make sure you correct the fault first.

Fuses (not on the image, may be found in place of circuit breakers) –rewirable fuses have a piece of special fuse wire running between two screws. When a fault or overload current flows through the fuse wire, it will become hot and melt. The melted fuse breaks the circuit, disconnecting the faulty circuit and keeping you safe.

If your fuse-board has a wooden back, cast iron switches, or a mixture of fuses it is likely that it dates back to before the 1960s and will need to be replaced.

For further information, Contact us today  on 0800-542-0638

On our website: - www.safe-electric.com