OPINION: How safe is your shop?

One of the most difficult tasks I have undertaken as a manager was to help and counsel an employee whose husband was electrocuted and killed at work. The lady had two young daughters and the accident changed her life instantly. That was in the early 1980’s, but it did make me very aware just what mains electricity can do if it is not properly managed.

I was reminded of this incident by our recent Periodic Electricity Inspection. The Electrical Safety Council suggests that business premises should have this inspection done every five years. To allow the electrical contractor the opportunity to fully test our electrical system we arranged close for 75 minutes as the lights and computer equipment needed to be turned off.

We also had our portable appliances test (PAT) at the same time, as this annual test was due. We have 70 portable appliances that need testing, everything from our EPoS tills to our floor cleaner. In fact anything that we plug in to a mains socket must be tested and, just as in previous years, all items were passed as safe.

The major part of the testing work was done during our closure and the rest was completed easily without any further disruption. With the test finished the electrician reported that they had found just one problem, a cracked plug socket box. We will correct this very soon and we will be able to trade on with the comfort of knowing that our electrical system is safe.