As a business owner, it’s crucial that you are doing everything that you can to keep yourself, your team and any customers or visitors safe. One aspect of this is keeping up to date with all the important health and safety regulations that you are responsible for following.
When it comes to the electrical maintenance of your building, electrical health and safety comes with a set of its own important codes and regulations. It’s important that all business owners familiarise themselves with these in order to operate safely and keep on top of due maintenance and inspections.
Here are the commercial electrical regulations that all Sheffield business owners need to follow!
Health And Safety At Work Act 1974 (HASAWA)
The Health And Safety At Work Act (HASAWA) of 1974 is in place to ensure that all workers across the UK feel safe in their occupations. Whilst all team members in any workplace across the UK should know the terms of the act in order to carry out their respective jobs safely, the responsibility of training staff to follow these regulations falls on the business owner.
One important aspect of the act covers regulations that should be followed when working with electricity, as malpractice while working with electricity is consistently responsible for a high number of workplace injuries year on year.
There are always risks when working with electricity, though working with electricity is unavoidable in 2021. Due to this, the HASAWA outlines that, in cases where eliminating risk would be impossible, the responsibility falls on the risk-maker – the team member working with the appliance.
The act states that ‘an employer does not have to take measures to avoid or reduce the risk if they are technically impossible or if the time, trouble or cost of the measures would be grossly disproportionate to the risk’.’
For this reason, it’s imperative that all staff are familiar with the terms of the act in order to avoid both unnecessary injury to staff members and attempts to unlawfully place the responsibility on the employer.
Electricity At Work Regulations 1989 (EWR)
The EWR were put in place to provide guidance for both employers and team members on the correct practices when it comes to working with electricity.
The guidance outlined in the regulations is both technical and legal, including outlining:
- The duties of the employer and the employees
- The general expected safety and risks of working with electrical systems
- Strengths and capabilities of electrical equipment commonly found in the workplace
- Hazardous environments that may occur within the workplace and how to correct them
Employers are responsible for relaying these regulations to employees in order to ensure a safe working environment.
Provision And Use Of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)
The PUWER regulations set out safety requirements for the operation of specialised equipment and machinery in the workplace in order to prevent malpractice and subsequent injuries.
The regulations place responsibility the business owner who owns or has control over these appliances and whose employees must use the equipment as a part of their jobs.
PUWER outlines that all electrical equipment intended for use in the workplace must be:
- Safe for use
- Well-maintained
- Suitable for its intended use
- Operated only by those who have received the proper training to do so
- Accompanied by proper health and safety measures
- Used in accordance with specific requirements set out by the manufacturer
Again, these regulations place sole responsibility on the business owner, so it’s crucial that you familiarise yourself with the regulations and follow them carefully in your working environment.
Management Of Health And Safety At Work Regulations 1999
Following the Health And Safety At Work Act (HASAWA) of 1974, the Management Of Health And Safety At Work Regulations outline the steps that employers must take in order to ensure that they are keeping a safe working environment.
These regulations require employers to:
- Carry out and record risk assessments, keeping these updated as changes are made within the working environment
- Implement necessary health and safety measures in order to protect all staff and visitors
- Appoint employees to implement and maintain these health and safety measures
- Introduce procedures to be followed in the case of emergencies
- Provide sufficient information and training to employees in order to facilitate employees being able to carry out their jobs safely
Whilst these regulations are not electricity specific, each one has applications for maintaining the proper use of electrical equipment in the workplace.
Who Ensures These Regulations Are Being Followed?
The Health And Safety Executive (HSE) are the body in place to ensure that Health And Safety laws are being followed by business owners and team members in UK workplaces.
In order to do this, the HSE carries out inspections of workplaces across the UK. While workplaces with a history of breaking the regulations or with an unusually high number of recorded workplace injuries are more likely to receive a HSE inspection, they are carried out at random.
All UK businesses will, at some point, receive an inspection – with this in mind, it’s imperative that you do what you can as a business owner to ensure that all regulations are being followed to the letter.
How Can I Ensure My Electrical Systems Are Up To Standard?
Periodic inspection and testing of your electrical systems and devices can help to maintain a safe working environment. Our checks will ensure that all machines and equipment are functioning without any signs of electric malfunctioning. This also helps you to make sure that you are compliant will the current legal safety regulations and help you achieve more efficient operations.
Here at Complete Solution Services, we provide electrical inspections and testing to business across Sheffield and the surrounding areas.
If you’d like our team of qualified inspectors to check that everything in your business is in line with UK health and safety regulations, get in touch today and arrange an inspection with Complete Solution Services!
