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Fault of the Week

Is Fixed Wire Inspection & Testing in the UK a Legal Requirement?

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The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 is an act of statutory legislation which places responsibility on employers in the UK to ensure, so far as is practicable, the health and welfare for everyone at the workplace which includes employees, members of the public, visitors and contractors.

Within the Health & Safety at Work Act there are areas which cover legal requirements for specific areas and this is where Fixed Wire Inspection & Testing comes in. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 cover all electrical systems within all occupied spaces.

Best practice guidance for complying with the regulations have been published by bodies other than the Health & Safety Executive. For this case Fixed Wiring Inspection & Testing includes:

  • British Standard BS7671 – Requirements for Electrical Installations, IET Wiring Regulations
  • IET Inspection & Testing Guidance Note 3
  • HSE Electricity at Work – Safe working Practices
  • HSE memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989

The latest version of the regulations, which were first published in 2018, are known in the industry as the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations, which came into effect on 1st January 2019. All electrical installations following this regulation must be installed / maintained following BS 7671:2018. The purpose of the regulation is to prevent death or personal injury to any person from electrical causes in connection with work activities. Failure to comply to BS 7671:2018 obviously means an employer could be potentially exposed to legal action should an incident occur.

 

 

An employer or duty holder can demonstrate compliance with the regulations in respect to their electrical installation in the form of an up to date Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) which has been checked and completed by a qualified electrical engineer. Today, many insurers wish to see evidence of a company being compliant and this can be easily carried out by reading the EICR report.

Make sure you are compliant with your electrical installations and employ Veriserv as your contractor for all your electrical fixed wire inspection and testing.

If you require fixed wire testing, or any electrical testing within your business, simply fill out our contact form to book your free assessment, or call 01543 225306 to speak to a member of our team.

Risk of electric shock through poor socket selection

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Risk of electric shock through poor socket selection, in this example standard plastic electrical socket outlets have been fitted in an office floor

It seems quite obvious that if an electrical socket is to be fitted into the floor, it would need to be of a type that has been designed to withstand weight or impact, however someone has ignored this criteria, or has not considered the environment.

A standard plastic electrical socket outlet is designed to be mounted into a wall and would not be suitable to floor mount. The sockets in this photo would easily be broken by; the steel chair leg where the leg could become live through direct contact with the live electrical conductors.

This example was identified by a Veriserv engineer whilst carrying out an electrical fixed wiring inspection and test. The engineer would isolate the sockets and complete an “immediate report” to notify Veriserv’s customer.

The sockets should be of the type that are enclosed in a protection enclosure suitable for use on an office floor. This type of socket would normally have a lid to stop ingress of liquids should they get spilt.

Electrical equipment that is intended for use in the workplace must satisfy the safety requirements of  the  Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994  and  must  provide  a  safe connection to the mains electrical supply.

The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) publish BS7671, IET wiring regulations seventeenth edition. Section 522.6.2 states that wiring systems shall be selected and erected so as to minimise damage arising from mechanical stress or impact during use or maintenance.

Veriserv would be happy to advise on any electrical compliance matter, or provide you with a quotation to carry out an Electrical Fixed wiring inspection and test of your premises.

Please contact us on 01543 225306 or complete our on line enquiries form.

 

Portable Appliance Testing why do it

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Portable Appliance Testing why do it , In the work place all portable electrical equipment should be subject to ‘User Checks’ carried out by a competent person. As an employer its very important to protect people in premises that you control from electric shock, fire and other hazards. Its also very important to protect yourself and your company from prosecution should an accident occur which is not your fault.

The examples shown in this blog were all identified by Veriserv engineers and demonstrate how your employees could negatively effect safety in your workplace. In other words, employees who ignore the basic principles of electrical safety could land you and others in trouble.

The first example of portable appliance testing why do it, shows a standard 13amp plug where the fuse has been replaced with a peace of metal bar. A correctly rated fuse will blow if the portable appliance develops a fault. This in turn protects the user from potential electric shock and would prevent the possibility of the appliance overheating and causing a fire.

Someone has deliberately replaced the fuse with the bar which is totally irresponsible, given that the appliance is no longer protected at the rated 13 amps. Given the size of the cables it may be that the appliance itself should be connected by a different means to a 13 amp plug. A competent portable appliance test engineer will check ratings and advise accordingly and a veriserv engineer would also disconnect the appliance and issue an immediate report to advise our customer.

This second example was found plugged in and switched on with live conductors showing.

 

Again this is an example where it would be clear to a responsible person that this extension lead is not fit for use.

The third example is another broken extension lead being used in service which clearly exposes people to an electric shock hazard.

Both faults were found by Veriserv engineers during annual portable appliance testing (PAT) and these examples reinforce the importance of maintaining a proper testing regime to protect people in your premises.

Ideally, equipment which has an obvious visual fault should be switched off and taken out of service by an employee or person acting responsibly in the workplace. Only very basic health & Safety training is required to achieve this.

In any event, in the workplace it should not be acceptable for a defect to go unnoticed, therefore the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) recommend that formal visual inspections are undertaken periodically by a competent person to identify these hazardous items.

All Veriserv PAT engineers are qualified to the City & Guilds 2377 Level 3 award in the in service inspection and testing of electrical equipment (PAT)

If you need advice on Portable Appliance Testing please feel free to request a quotation or call Veriserv directly on: 01543 225306.

Useful References:

The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) publish guidance for the maintenance of portable appliances

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) provide useful guidance on Portable Appliance Testing

IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment Chapter 15.8

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Regulation 5
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, Regulation 4(1)

If you need advice on Portable Appliance Testing please feel free to request a quotati

Risk of electric shock with exposed live terminals

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The exposed live terminals , were found by a Veriserv engineer whilst carrying out a routine electrical fixed wire inspection and test  at a commercial property. Although this fault was found in a plant room where there is no public access, to workers it poses a significant risk of electric shock with exposed live terminals.

The engineer effected an immediate temporary repair to make this safe, by covering the exposed live terminals and open terminal box with insulating tape to prevent anyone touching the terminals.

The fault was then formally reported to the customer on a Veriserv “immediate” report which would be signed by the customer to acknowledge the fault and act as a hard copy reminder to facilitate a remedial repair. The “immediate report” is a useful way of immediately notifying a customer of all faults found during the fixed wire inspection and test by noting the category of faults helping our customer understand how to prioritise the remedial repairs. All category 1 faults such as this would need immediate rectification or temporary repair, otherwise the circuit would need to be isolated to make safe until a repair can be completed. All Veriserv engineers would provide expert advice and recommendation whilst on site. This is important as the full inspection & test report would follow later. If you need advise please call us on 01543 225306 or complete an Contact us form.

The Electricity at work regulations 1989 sit under the Health & Safety at work act 1974 and impose duties on employers and “duty holders” in respect to electrical systems, electrical equipment and conductors.

The purpose of the regulations is to is to prevent death or personal injury to any person from electrical causes in connection with work activities.

Employers and self employed people must comply with the provisions of the Electricity at work regulations 1989. Regulation 4 (2) states that as necessary to prevent danger , all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent , so far as reasonably practicable , such danger.

A duty holder can demonstrate compliance with the regulations, in respect to their electrical installation, by carrying out an electrical fixed wire inspection and test. As Veriserv are an NICEIC accredited company, we are experts in this area and are happy to advise you on the frequency, scope and cost of the test, having first considered the environment and use of the premises concerned.

If you need advise please call us on 01543 225306 or complete a Contact us form.

 

Portable Appliance Testing, Overheated Plug Socket

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One good reason to have your portable appliance testing (PAT) carried out. Our fault of the week is a good example of a multi socket electrical extension lead that has become overheated with early signs of burning.

This fault was found by a Veriserv engineer during an annual portable appliance test (PAT) . The socket has become overheated. This could be caused by a loose connection or as a result of supplying an appliance which uses power in excess of the extension leads recommended maximum limit. Most extension leads of this type are rated at 13 amps so this means you should not plug more than one 13amp appliance into the extension socket at the same time. Multiple appliances should be rated at 5 amps.

The plug which connected to the overheated socket is shown below.

It is important that all appliances are fitted with a fuse which is correctly rated for the appliance it powers. A new portable appliance will already be fitted with a sealed plug and correctly rated fuse. The plug shown in this photo is the type that has probably been fitted at a later date. It is important that the fuse rating is checked during the portable appliance test. Veriserv engineers would check this during the test and replace if necessary.

As a result of the PAT test by Veriserv the overheated extension lead and plug would be taken out of service and reported immediately to our customer.

In the work place all portable electrical equipment should be subject to  ‘User Checks’ however in this case it seems the deterioration of this piece of equipment has gone unnoticed. Ideally in this situation, as soon as any damaged is noticed the piece of equipment should be switched off and taken out of service.

In any event, in the workplace it should not be acceptable for a defect to go unnoticed, therefore the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) recommend that formal visual inspections are undertaken periodically by a competent person to identify these hazardous items.

All Veriserv PAT engineers are qualified to the City & Guilds 2377 Level 3 award in the in service inspection and testing of electrical equipment (PAT) 

If you need advice on Portable Appliance Testing please feel free to request a quotation or call Veriserv directly on: 01543 225306.

Useful References:

The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) publish guidance for the maintenance of portable appliances

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) provide useful guidance on Portable Appliance Testing  

IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment Chapter 15.8

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Regulation 5
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, Regulation 4(1)

If you need advice on Portable Appliance Testing please feel free to request a quotation or call Veriserv directly on: 01543 225306.

Overheated RCBO terminals could cause a fire

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Our “fault of the week” blog posts are all real electrical fault situations that have been reported by Veriserv engineers whilst carrying out Inspection & Testing of electrical installations at client sites. This fault is an RCBO (residual current breaker with overcurrent) that has become overheated and burnt.

This C1 electrical defect is a result of a loose connection causing arcing at the RCBO terminal. Not only would this lead to a failure in the RCBO and electrical circuit, there would also be a serious threat of fire should the melted plastic ignite in some way.

The Veriserv engineer would immediately isolate this circuit and report the defect to the client on what we call an “immediate report”. This so the client is aware of any defects prior to the engineer leaving site. The RCBO and adjoining cable would be replaced if the client requested that Veriserv carry out the remedial repair.

Overheated RCBO terminals could cause a fire, this fault would be classed as a C1 Fail Code -Danger Present. Risk of injury. Immediate remedial action required.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989-Reg 4(2) state “The need for maintenance to be done to ensure safety”.  As such all commercial premises must be electrically tested and certified to ensure they can continue to be used safety.

BS7671 wiring regulations to the latest edition sets out the requirements for all electrical installations in the UK. The Institute of Engineers and Technology (IET) produce guidance notes to enlarge on the wiring regulations and set out guidance on how compliance can be achieved. Guidance Note 3 covers the Inspection & testing of Electrical Installations.

An electrical installation should be periodically inspected by a qualified electrical engineer. Veriserv are experts in this field and will advise any customer who may be unsure of the periodicity or scope of the Inspection & Test. Veriserv will issue an electrical certificate and report to their customer with a statement as to the condition of the electrical installation. Click here for more details.

 

Loose cable connections can be more dangerous than you think

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How safe is your property? Are you sure work has been done correctly, and do you have your electrics tested regularly? Just a few loose cable connections could of meant serious danger for this person.

The attached photo shows burning and heat damage forming within a consumer unit. This fault was caused by a loose or poor cable connection and luckily was spotted by a Veriserv engineer, and was able to be repaired.

The power from the consumer unit was still live and working, so may not have seemed a problem for the customer, but you can clearly see the potential fire risk that can increase within a property without inspections. This is a problem that could have escalated extremely quickly, and would have been more than just an inconvenience, it could have been life threatening.

During periodic inspections, Veriserv engineers test and physically check for loose cable connections, as well as any other technical faults, which as you can see is a valuable service.

Our mission is to provide every single customer with an outstanding service that is fit for purpose and delivered by experts to reduce risk. As you can see from our other faults of the week, regular visits from a professional can cut down the risk of electrical faults, fire and disrupted security, to you and your workplace.

So if you know you are due a service, or have some concerns about your premises, please call 01543 225306, or fill out one of our contact forms to arrange a free assessment of your premises, with one of our fully trained engineers.

 

Faulty AC Adapters Exposing Live Terminals at 230V

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AC adapters & chargers are commonplace in every workplace nowadays, whether used for mobile phones or supplying certain IT equipment. So Faulty AC Adapters are beginning to become a problem.

This week, we have again identified a safety issue that can occur with some of these appliances. Most of these items are constructed from two halves of a molded casing which are glued & sometimes screwed together. Occasionally however this fixing can fail leading to the casing coming apart and causing a faulty AC adapters exposing live terminals at 230V potential.

Of the three photographs, the unit laid out in two pieces failed the first time the item was removed from the wall socket. This charger was actually a replacement for another unit that had failed in the same way!

Veriserv would recommend caution for any chargers or AC adapters used in the workplace that are not an original equipment manufacturer part, as they could be potentially harmful. We would advise staying with the manufacturers parts where possible, and taking care of your appliances.

Our mission is to provide every single customer with an outstanding service that is fit for purpose and delivered by experts to reduce risk. As you can see from our other faults of the week, regular visits from a professional can cut down the risk of electrical faults, fire and disrupted security, to you and your workplace.

So if you know you are due a service, or have some concerns about your premises, please call 01543 225306, or fill out one of our contact forms to arrange a free assessment of your premises, with one of our fully trained engineers.

 

Male connector fitted with exposed terminals

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Can you see a problem with this? Would you spot the dangers of exposed terminals?

The plug, the flex and the three-pin connector all look to be in perfect condition don’t they? However, this lead could quite literally be lethal.

It appears that someone has unwittingly, maybe during a momentary lapse of concentration fitted a “male” connector with exposed terminals on the end of a 13-amp plug, now imagine this plugged into a socket outlet with those exposed terminals at the end and suddenly it no longer looks quite so innocent.

A Veriserv engineer found and removed this from a site this week emphasising the need to be extra vigilant for such seemingly innocent and yet very dangerous pieces of “DIY” equipment.

The IET recommend that formal visual inspections be undertaken periodically by a competent person to identify these hazardous items.

Our mission is to provide every single customer with an outstanding service that is fit for purpose and delivered by experts to reduce risk. As you can see from our other faults of the week, regular visits from a professional can cut down the risk of electrical faults, fire and disrupted security, to you and your workplace.

So if you know you are due a service, or have some concerns about your premises, please call 01543 225306, or fill out one of our contact forms to arrange a free assessment of your premises, with one of our fully trained engineers.

 

 

Information for Reference

IET- Institution for Engineering Technology

Regulations

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

Electricity at Work Regulations 1989

 

 

Incorrectly installed Ring Circuit

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How can a circuit still be energised when it is clearly switched off? ….Answer ? when it is an incorrectly installed Ring Circuit! This week we have had the not so unusual occurrence of a ring circuit that when installed or modified the conductors have been mixed up with another Ring Circuit. For the circuit to be fully isolated two MCB’s* would be required to be switched off making the protective device ineffective for its purpose.

The Ring Circuit was introduced in the early 1940’s due to its efficient use of copper and its flexibility for installation. It is still the most common circuit used for sockets in the UK to this day! Installed correctly the circuit makes use of two conductors running in parallel for the Line, Neutral and Earth conductors. In the instance of our fault of the week, one single conductor from one leg of the circuit had been mixed up with another leg of a completely different circuit.

A Ring Circuit that has been incorrectly wired in this manner poses a number of hazards. Firstly in the event of a fault to an appliance the circuit protection (MCB) would not operate therefore leading to a possible overload. Also, during maintenance, should **Safe Isolation not be correctly undertaken the circuit would remain live even though appearing switched off to the maintenance personnel.

Veriserv recommend that only competent electricians undertake maintenance work on electrical circuits.

 

Photograph(s)

MCB for the fuseboard that is clearly switched off and the microwave oven that is plugged into the circuit that remains switched on & energised.

Our mission is to provide every single customer with an outstanding service that is fit for purpose and delivered by experts to reduce risk. As you can see from our other faults of the week, regular visits from a professional can cut down the risk of electrical faults, fire and disrupted security, to you and your workplace.

So if you know you are due a service, or have some concerns about your premises, please call 01543 225306, or fill out one of our contact forms to arrange a free assessment of your premises, with one of our fully trained engineers.

References

*MCB- Miniature Circuit Breaker (as shown in the photograph) also referred to as “over-current protective device”

**Safe Isolation- proving dead (not energised) in accordance with Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 regulation 12