Five electrical safety issues Brighton businesses shouldn’t ignore

 In my experience there are usually warning signs before a problem becomes more serious. Some are obvious, while others are easy to overlook. Here are five electrical safety issues  Brighton business owners should be keeping an eye on.

1. Putting off electrical inspections

One of the first things I would check is when the electrical installation was last inspected. It’s surprisingly common for businesses to have no idea when this was done, especially when they have taken over an existing premises.

An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) checks the fixed wiring and electrical installation and can pick up damage or safety issues that may not be obvious just by looking around.

It’s worth pointing out that there isn’t a law saying every business must have an EICR every five years. Businesses do have a responsibility to keep their electrical systems maintained and safe. An EICR is a good way of checking the installation and finding problems early.

If you can’t find the previous electrical report or don’t know when the electrics were last inspected, I’d recommend finding out rather than waiting for something to go wrong.

2. Don’t assume an old fuse board needs replacing

A fuse board or distribution board being old doesn’t automatically mean it’s unsafe or needs replacing. I come across plenty of older boards that are still doing their job safely. What matters more is the condition of the board and the protection it provides.

Signs of overheating or discolouration, damaged covers, missing blanks or anything broken should be taken seriously. It’s also worth checking whether the installation has the safety protection you would expect, such as RCD protection.

If everything in the building seems to be working, it can be easy to assume the fuse board must be fine. But some electrical problems aren’t obvious until the installation is properly checked.

3. Damaged sockets and switches

Sockets and switches get a lot of use in busy workplaces and damage can easily go unnoticed, especially in areas that staff use every day.

Cracked faceplates, loose sockets, scorch marks, buzzing noises or anything getting unusually warm are all signs that something isn’t right. Damaged plugs, extension leads and cables are also worth keeping an eye on, where equipment is moved around regularly.

These can seem like small problems and are easy to put off while everything is still working, but they’re much easier to deal with when picked up early. If you notice burning, scorching or excessive heat, I wouldn’t leave it and see if it gets worse.

4. Emergency lighting that never gets checked

Emergency lighting can easily be forgotten because you hopefully never need to use it. If the normal lighting fails, it should give people enough light to safely find their way out of the building.

The problem is that you don’t really know whether it works unless it is being tested. I’ve been into businesses where emergency lights have been fitted for years but nobody knows when they were last checked.

If your premises has emergency lighting, make sure somebody knows when it was last tested and that there is a system in place for keeping on top of it. Finding out that it doesn’t work during an emergency is obviously the worst possible time to discover a fault.

5. Don’t ignore faults that keep coming back

If a circuit keeps tripping, lights keep flickering or you are regularly having to reset the same breaker or RCD, there is usually a reason for it.

It can be tempting to reset it and carry on, especially if everything starts working again. But a breaker or RCD tripping is often the safety device doing exactly what it is there to do.

Recurring faults are worth getting checked rather than becoming something everyone in the business gets used to. Sometimes the cause is simple, but finding it early can stop a small electrical fault turning into a bigger problem or causing unnecessary disruption later on.

The main takeaway

You don’t need to know much about electrics to notice when something isn’t quite right. The important thing is not to ignore the warning signs and hope they go away.

A lot of the issues I come across could have been dealt with much earlier if they had been checked when they were first noticed.

Brad Andersen runs BKA Electrical, an electrical contractor working with homes and businesses across Brighton & Hove. Brad has over 10 years’ experience working in the electrical industry.

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