Electrical Safety at Work

Electricity plays a part in everyday life, but if precautions are not taken electricity can lead to severe injuries or death, and damage properties.

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, employers are responsible for ensuring the safety and health of their employees and also the public, if they are at risk from those work activities, including electrical safety.

There are simple precautions laid out by HSE that you can take to significantly reduce the risk of electrical injury. These include:

• Ensure people working on or with your electrical equipment or systems are competent for the task
• Ensure the electrical installation is safe
• Provide safe and suitable equipment
• Reduce the voltage, if possible
• Provide a safety device, such as a residual current device (RCD)

A brief guide has been created by HSE to outline what precautions you can take and how. You can read that guide here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg231.pdf