Sparking Safety - Electrical Safety Week Wales 2019

Gower Assembly Member joins campaign to keep constituents safe. 

There were nearly 1,900 fires caused by electricity in Welsh homes over the last 5 years, Gower Assembly Member, Rebecca Evans AM, heard when she met with leading consumer safety charity, Electrical Safety First.
 
Rebecca Evans AM said: “It’s been estimated that almost 30,000 Welsh homes are at potentially serious risk of fire due to old or damaged electrics. That’s why I wanted to hear from Electrical Safety First how I can help ensure that constituents stay safe.”
 
The meeting took place during Electrical Safety Week Wales, during which the Charity highlighted how fires in older housing stock in Wales - a significant proportion of which was built before 1919 - is linked to deteriorating electrics. Home Safety Visits in Wales are conducted by the Fire and Rescue Services, and they are a vital trusted service which can pick up potential dangers with electrics in people’s homes across the country, especially vulnerable people who live in older housing.
 
Top Tips for electrical safety across the winter time include: -
 

1. Consider fitting your fusebox with an RCD (Residual Current Device). It’s a life-saving device that switches the electricity off automatically if there is a fault. You can also buy plug-in RCDs for use in individual sockets.
2. Don’t overload electrical adaptors by plugging too many appliances into one socket, especially those with a high electrical current rating such as kettles, irons and heaters. Visit https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance to check that your sockets are safe.
3. If you are using a portable heater to keep warm, keep it away from flammable materials like papers, curtains and furniture and never use one to dry your clothes.
4. Turn off any electrical appliances that you are not using, particularly at night, when a fire can quickly spread unnoticed and cause more danger and damage.
5. Check your sockets regularly – if you see burn marks or they feel hot, get a registered electrician to check if they need repairing or replacing.
6. Make sure that you have a working smoke alarm on each floor of your property – if a fire does start, this will give you a chance to get out safely and call 999 for help.