HSE Electrical Safety

Employers in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland are responsible for the health and safety of employees and the public. Electrical safety is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which creates regulations for working with this power source.

Simple Precautions

HSE offers simple precautions to employees who work with or near electricity. Recommendations include conducting risk assessments to discover hazards, locating electrical wires within an area where employees will be working and turning off the electrical supply before starting a job. HSE has safety rules for overhead power lines, for working with electrically powered equipment and for employees who work on underground electrical cables.

Standards/Codes

HSE has developed standards and codes for various areas of electrical safety. Some of these codes are used by electricians when they perform jobs in areas such as emergency lighting and electrical surface heating. Electrical appliances have code standardizations for plugs and socket outlets.

Safety FAQ

HSE offers some general advice for working with various aspects of electrical safety. It explains how to avoid electrical injuries, how to test equipment for safety and how to test employees or workers for electrical competence. It also publishes a pamphlet titled "Electrical incidents in GB," which gives detailed information about electrical safety.

References

• HSE: HSE and Electrical Safety
• HSE: Simple Precautions
• HSE: Electrical Standards and Applications of Codes of Practice
• HSE: Electrical FAQS

Resources

• HSE: Work Near Electricity