|
|

Legislation Affecting Electrical Safety

Happily no one goes to an electrician or an estate / letting agent for legal advice. The following detail should not be taken as legal advice!

There follows a list of the pieces of legislation and regulation that our services address (this might not be the complete list, and what appears in brackets are a brief summary of what we understand to be pertinent clauses):

  • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (duty of care on employers to ensure safety of all persons using work premises)
  • The Electricity at work regulations 1989 (as may be necessary to prevent danger all electrical appliances shall be maintained so as to prevent such danger)
  • Electrical equipment (Safety) regulations 1994 (states all electrical appliances must be safe)
  • The Management of Health and Safety at work regulations 1999
  • The provision and use of work equipment regulations 1998
  • The Consumer protection act 1987
  • The Plugs and Sockets (safety) regulations 1994
  • Fire safety risk assessment 2006 (all electrical equipment should be installed and maintained in a safe manner. If portable electrical equipment is used (then you should) ensure that it undergoes Portable appliance testing.)
  • Houses in multiple occupation The Housing Act 2004
  • The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (begun 2006)

The gist of all of these is that electrical installations and appliances have to be safe to use. Often, there are no explicit instructions as to how to make electrical installations and appliances safe, therefore the only method of compliance would appear to be to have a programme of testing in place.

Note to residential landlords:

You may well be familiar with the explicit requirements for Gas Safety in Rented accommodation (one piece of legislation referring to rented accommodation only stipulating testing be done every year, by a CORGI engineer, who must issue a certificate!) However, the legislation for electrical safety is much less explicit simply because it does not refer solely to rented property. Our understanding is that, in the event of an electrical fire or accident, the onus is on a Landlord to prove that all reasonable steps had been taken to ensure electrical safety.

Our Landlord’s Safety Inspections supply you with documentary proof that the property and equipment were inspected prior to the handover to the tenant. This can help establish if damage has been sustained since the start of a tenancy.