Keeping Your Business Electrical Safe

Good electrical health and safety is absolutely essential for all businesses.

Ensuring that your business has a viable electrical health and safety record is vital for maintaining the well being of your employees and customers, as well as ensuring that all of the equipment and electrical appliances that you use for your business run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. If you are a start up business are renting or leasing property, ensure you are aware and up to date with the latest government health and electrical safety at work rules and especially the small print.

Many electrical health and safety checks are required by law, and owners of both small and large businesses risk legal sanctions, and the possibility of having their business shut down, if they do not comply with these checks at regular intervals.

The Health and Safety Executive publishes up to date guidelines on what businesses need to do to ensure electrical health and safety at work, so it is easy to check what you need to do to keep up to scratch. Maintaining a good electrical health and safety record for your business is a simple process when you know what to do. This article focuses on two of the main checks needed for electrical health and safety at work, Portable Appliance Testing, and the use and maintenance of smoke and fire alarm detectors. So stay smart and keep everyone involved in your business safety!

Portable Appliance Testing.

Often abbreviated to 'PAT Testing', Portable Appliance Testing is a procedure that needs to be repeated at regular and appropriate intervals. PAT Testing involves making sure that a portable electrical appliance is in good working order and does not have any faults that may result in injury to people using the appliance or damage to the workplace (for instance, by causing a fire).

Many businesses have all of their portable appliances tested annually, however the Health and Safety Executive advises that tools that have the potential to cause injury if they malfunction (such as drills used by building companies) ought to be tested more frequently. Senior VoltStar Electricians from approved electrical contractor firm in Fulham & London, the person performing the test does not need to be certified & approved electricians. One of your employees, trained to test portable electrical appliances can perform the tests. All that is required is that the person testing the appliance has adequate knowledge of how to test the appliance in question. As well as this official process of PET Testing, simple visual checks ought to be performed every day to ensure that there are no noticeable problems with portable electrical appliances, such as loose sockets, or damaged wiring.

Smoke and fire alarms and detectors.

Fire alarms are required by law in every building that has a commercial use. That means that every building that you use for your business must have a working fire alarm fitted. Built-in 'test' buttons in all commercially available fire alarms mean that your fire alarms can be easily tested at regular intervals, such as every day, or at least every week.

Though not required by law, smoke detectors are potentially lifesaving pieces of equipment to have for your business. Often toxic smoke from an overheated piece of electrical equipment can engulf a building without any fire taking place, meaning that a smoke detector can detect emergencies before a fire alarm does. Like fire alarms, smoke detectors can be simply and regularly tested with a built-in test button.