Does your school meet electrical safety standards?
Failing to adequately maintain electrical equipment can present many risks for schools and colleges. As well as potential safety issues, there could be legal and insurance implications for school leaders and management teams. But despite the importance of electrical maintenance, it’s a process that too often, isn’t carried out as effectively as it should be.
In our experience, part of the issue is that some local authorities aren’t proactive enough when it comes to electrical compliance in schools under their control. There is a similar issue at a number of academies where the responsibility for compliance sits with management teams that aren’t aware of what is required to adhere to Electricity at Work Regulations.
What does the law say?
The law requires a range of electrical components to be thoroughly and regularly tested by a fully qualified and experienced engineer. If you have any doubts about the safety and compliance of the electrical equipment in your school, ask yourself these questions:
- Has the emergency lighting been tested within the last 12 months?
- Has fixed electrical wiring been tested within the last five years?
- Has the residual current device (RCD) – which is used to disconnect a circuit if there is a fault – been tested within the last six months?
- Has the fire alarm been tested within the last six months?
- Have portable electrical appliances such as laptops been tested within the last year?
- Has fixed electrical equipment like desktop computers been tested within the last two years?
If the answer is no to any of the above, seek advice from an experienced electrical engineer to ensure you meet legal requirements and eliminate the risk of an electrical fault.
Staying one step ahead
To ensure a more proactive approach to electrical compliance, we also strongly recommend that a maintenance schedule is put in place. At West & West, we often work with schools on a long-term basis, providing tailored maintenance schedules in line with the latest health and safety legislation.
These schedules are developed using software that provides alerts as to when each component should be tested. Not only does this ensure a school or college meets health and safety requirements, but avoids the risks of additional costs further down the line. Failing to test components within the required timescales means that potential issues could be overlooked and these can be expensive to rectify if left for too long.
Free compliance guidance
West & West also offers free assessments to school leaders and management teams who are worried or unsure about electrical compliance. Following a site visit, we can advise on what equipment needs to be tested and next steps to ensure the highest standards of safety.
