The high risk of using a damaged socket extension lead


You may have heard the old adage of “if it works then there’s no need to fix it” but when an item of portable electrical equipment becomes damaged it should be switched off, disconnected from the supply and taken out of service. Unfortunately, in this instance this damaged socket extension lead was found by a Veriserv engineer to be still in use despite its obvious dangerous condition.

This piece of equipment obviously poses a number of hazards such as electrical shock and the risk of causing a fire. This would pose a high risk to any company and its employees.

All users of portable electrical equipment in the work place should undertake ‘User Checks’ however in this case it seems this piece of equipment has gone unnoticed. Ideally, in this situation as soon as the damage occurred the piece of equipment should have been switched off. It should not be acceptable for a significant defect of this nature to go unnoticed, therefore the IET recommend that formal visual inspections are undertaken periodically by a competent person to identify these hazardous items.

A Veriserv engineer would isolate the equipment at time of the inspection and advise the client of his findings, and assist where possible to get equipment that was connected to the extension lead back on.

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

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

Regulations

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Regulation 5

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, Regulation 4(1)

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