Electrician Huddersfield

The Electrical Safety Council (ESC), in partnership with a range of leading electrical wholesalers, is launching a ‘toolkit’ for electricians. Designed to help contractors communicate the benefits of RCD protection to customers, the pack is part of the ESC’s flagship Plug into Safety campaign. From the 3rd September thousands of packs containing key information about the importance of RCD protection will be available from leading wholesalers throughout the UK and two million leaflets will be distributed via retail and trade outlets.

The Plug into Safety campaign aims to reduce the number of electrical accidents in the home by encouraging the installation and habitual use of RCDs. Every year in the UK about 70 people die¹ and 1.2 million are injured in electrical accidents at home². The Plug into Safety campaign is working with all elements of the electrical industry – including industry bodies, RCD manufacturers, electricians, and wholesalers – to encourage householders to check their electrics and install RCD protection.

Phil Buckle, Director General at the Electrical Safety Council, said: “Currently, more than half of UK homes – that’s 13 million – don’t have adequate RCD protection in their consumer unit, or fusebox as it is more commonly known³. We want to support the industry in leading the way in encouraging householders to install RCDs and take basic safety measures to ensure their homes and families are protected from the potential dangers of electricity. To encourage and support this, we’ve produced these easy-to-use packs to help electricians communicate how crucial RCD protection is to their customers.

We’re delighted with the high level of interest and support we’ve had from all sections of the industry so far, which has been essential to further increasing the momentum of the Plug into Safety campaign.”

Each electrician’s pack contains 50 Electrical Safety Council leaflets which, in addition to basic safety messages, will explain the importance of RCDs and help customers understand the benefits of ensuring their consumer unit contains RCD protection. Detachable blank business cards, which urge homeowners to install RCD protection, will also be included for electricians to leave with customers after a house-call.

Gary Fisher, an electrician based in London, said: “I always advise my customers to get RCD protection but sometimes it can be difficult to convince people just how crucial it really is. These leaflets clearly explain the issues and will help ensure that customers feel well-informed. As the information is from a respected charity and not a commercial enterprise, it also helps demonstrate that I have my customers’ best interests at heart, rather than me wanting to rake in the cash! And, as I can leave information behind for the customer to read at their leisure, I don’t have to do a ‘hard sell’ there and then”.

Neil Thomas, commercial manager at Denman’s Electrical – one of the campaign’s partners – said: “Denmans are delighted to support the Plug into Safety campaign. Raising awareness in this area is bound to reduce the number of electrical accidents and will also help to promote installation of RCDs in UK homes”.

Packs will be distributed through large wholesalers from 3rd September, or contractors can go online to www.esc.org.uk/plugintosafety to download a PDF of the Plug into Safety leaflet to attach to emailed quotations or invoices.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to help householders reduce the risk of an electrical accident please visit www.esc.org.uk/plugintosafety.

¹Data supplied by the Department of Communities and Local Government, Health and Safety Executive and the World Health Organization – 2007
²IPSOS MORI – Derived from 2 surveys: the Capibus survey July 2010 and online survey June 2010
³Based on a survey of 16,204 homes carried out by BRE (formally the Building Research Establishment) over two years (2006,2007) for the English Housing Condition Survey

The kitchen is the heart of the home where families and friends come to meet and eat but dirty and chaotic kitchens are not just a health hazard – they can also be a fire risk.  Almost 13,000 [1] fires each year arise from the misuse of, and faults with, electrical cooking appliances.

Leading safety charity, the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) warns that over half of all accidental fires in UK homes – that’s more than 20,000 per year [2] – are caused by people’s casual attitude to electrical safety and misuse of electrical appliances.

“In our opinion – which is shared by the fire and rescue professionals we consulted -  a considerable number of kitchen fires occur through a casual attitude to cleaning and safety in kitchens,” explains Martyn Allen, Head of Technical Development at the  ESC. “And our research also indicates that over a quarter of Britons suspect at least one of their electrical appliances is faulty [3].”

Housekeeping guru Aggie MacKenzie agrees: “Allowing food and fat deposits to build up on cookers – or trailing leads across them – and using the tops of microwaves as extra storage and forgetting to remove things like tea towels draped over them, can all pose a safety risk. So clean up your act  – or you could end up burning a lot more than your toast!”

 “We live in an electric world, so it is understandable that people tend to take electricity for granted”, adds Martyn. “But that doesn’t mean we can forget basic safety precautions. And with an ever-increasing number of electric gadgets and cooking tools coming on to the market, we need to be a bit more safety conscious.”

Here’s the ESC’s three top tips for reducing the risk of an electrical fire in your home:

1. Keep electrical appliances , particularly kitchen items such as cookers and microwaves, clean and free from grease.
2. If an electrical appliance works erratically, has a flex or cable showing visible wear and tear, or you can smell burning when the appliance is in use, stop using it immediately.
3. Avoid placing anything flammable too close to electric heaters, cookers or fires.

Electrical hazards are invisible but deadly, causing fires and electrical shocks. These hazards are easily preventable if you use an NICEIC-registered contractor to install, inspect and maintain your electrics.