Home You and your home Health and safety in your home Electrical safety

Electrical safety

Our responsibility

Plus Dane is legally responsible for your safety when it comes to fixed electrical wiring in your home. By law, we are required to:

Make sure your electrical systems are in a safe condition;
Carry out safety checks on your electrical systems (in most cases every five years);
Have a suitably qualified and competent electrician complete all installation, maintenance and safety checks.

Please let us in to your home to do these important checks and complete any repairs, so you know your home is safe; our qualified electricians will also check that your smoke detectors are working properly, and replace them if they’re not. We’ll also check your smoke detectors as part of your annual gas service.

Your responsibility

We do not have responsibility to maintain or carry out safety checks for any appliances you own or install yourself. You have a responsibility to allow our teams into your home to make any repairs and complete any safety checks.

Electrical Safety Checks

An electrical safety check confirms that the electrical installation in your home has been assessed and is safe to use. These are called Electrical Installation Condition Reports or EICRs.

It confirms that any recent electrical work meets the UK national standards and that your home is safe. Plus Dane will also upgrade parts of the system to further safeguard you with devices such as Residual Current Devices (RCDs). These are life-saving devices designed to prevent you from getting a fatal electric shock. We may also install non-combustible boards.

Our teams will carry out a periodic inspection and test of the electrical installation in your home at least every five years, or when there is a change in tenancy.

Testing will involve a full visual inspection of your electrical system and accessories. Our electricians will advise you which rooms they need to access to complete the tests and checks, including socket outlets, light switches, light fittings and electric storage heater points. Where we spot an issue or fault, or we need to replace an accessory, we will do our best to complete the work during the appointment to make your home safe. Once the testing and any works have been completed, our engineers will advise you of any changes that they have made; such as the installation of RCD protection or new smoke detectors. They will also show you how to use them.

Power cuts or meter issues (including hot/leaking meters)

If you experience a meter leak or a power cut, do the following straight away:

Call the local electricity network operator free on 105
Call Plus Dane on 0800 169 2988

Your electricity network operator owns the cables which run up to your meter and is responsible for any issues or faults affecting these.

Top Tips for avoiding electrical accidents and fires

Don’t overload sockets and limit the use of extension leads and plug-in adaptors
Don’t attempt to use electrical appliances from overseas in the UK. Products manufactured for use in other countries may operate at a different voltage and frequency
Don’t attempt any repairs to your electrical wiring or appliances yourself
Don’t take mains-powered electrical products into the bathroom
Don’t touch electrical appliances or switches with wet hands
Don’t plug adaptors into adaptors, or extensions into adaptors/extensions
Do check that sockets, switches and light fittings are in good condition with no signs of damage (such as cracking or burn marks)
Do check that leads (flexible cables) on appliances aren’t damaged or frayed
Do check that any electrical appliances provided by Plus Dane have up-to-date PAT (Portable Appliance Test) stickers on them
Do check that the fuse box has RCD protection.
Do check that the wattage of light bulbs is not too high for the fitting.
Do check that fuses in plugs are of the correct rating.

Call Plus Dane immediately on 0800 169 2988 if you think there is a problem with your electrics.

Electrical Fire Safety

Did you know that faulty household appliances and ‘white goods’ like washing machines, fridges and tumble dryers are the cause of about 60 fires in the UK every week. The Grenfell Tower tragedy was found to have been caused by a faulty fridge.

Here are a few things you can do to reduce the risk of an electrical fire happening in your home:

Electrical Fire Safety Tips

Buy reputable electrical goods. Cheaper ‘unofficial’ electrical products such as phone chargers may not meet safety regulations, increasing the risk of fire.
Clean the filter on your tumble dryer regularly and don’t forget to periodically clean behind your fridge/freezer and tumble dryer where fluff and dust can build up over time and catch fire.
Check electrical items regularly to make sure plugs and wires aren’t damaged or frayed, as that can cause short-circuiting and lead to a fire or electrocution. If you think any electrical appliances are not working properly in any way; do not use them and have them repaired or replaced.
Keep electrical appliances away from water if they are not designed to operate when wet
Register new appliances so the manufacturers can contact you in the event of any problems. Go to: www.registermyappliance.org.uk for more information and to register your electrical products.

Never use water on a live electrical fire, you should only use a multi-purpose, powder extinguisher (with a blue stripe on the canister) or foam extinguisher (with a cream stripe).