North Devon Homes: Electrical Safety events helping to keep our customers safe

Around half of all home fires in the UK are caused by electricity, with most of those arising from electrical products.

That’s why throughout January and February our Health and Safety Team together with our Customer Involvement Officer, Tracey Williams, teamed up with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service to organise a series of free Electrical Safety Fayres across North Devon.

Thanks to a grant from Electrical Safety First, we were able to host events where we invited North Devon Homes’ customers to come along and bring their electrical appliances for free electrical safety testing.

It was great to see so many of our customers attending and bringing their small items for testing. The most popular items to be tested included kettles, hair dryers and toasters.

Where an item failed the safety test, we were able to use the grant from Electrical Safety First to replace the item. In total we tested more than 130 personal appliances and more than 50 brand new safe appliances were issued as replacements, upgrades or were identified as a need. 

Additionally, the events were a chance for us to get involved with our customers face to face listening to their needs, concerns and feedback and share information on how to keep their homes safe from electrical fires. 

Our Energy and Wellbeing Officer and Financial Inclusion Officers also attended the events, offering energy saving, money, and benefits advice.

We held quizzes, competitions, and raffles at each event where everyone who attended were put into a prize draw with the chance to win an air fryer or other household electrical goods.

If you are a North Devon Homes’ customer who couldn’t make any of our events, please get in contact with us. We can arrange to visit you at home to safety test your electrical appliances.

Keeping our customers safe in their homes is paramount to us. We know that we often have more gadgets in our homes than we have wall sockets. This means we sometimes need to use extension cables or adapters.

It’s important that we use these correctly, so here are some dangers you should be aware of:

• Damaged cables: Cables can get damaged if they are walked over, bent at the same point, or stored improperly.
• Tripping hazards: If a cable is stretched too tight, you could trip or fall over it.
• Tangled leads: The leads on power tools can get tangled, which could cause one of the wires to fail. This can be dangerous.
• Overuse of Adapters: Using too many multi-way adapters or adapter blocks can increase the risk of fire.

Extension leads

If you need to use an extension lead, follow these tips to stay safe:

• Buy ready-assembled: Only use an extension lead that was bought ready-assembled.
• Length limit: We recommend that no extension lead be more than 15 metres long.
• Cover cables: If the cable has to cross a pathway, cover it with a rubber protector strip.
• Regular checks: Always check that leads, plugs and sockets are undamaged.

Remember, if an extension lead is damaged, please don’t try to repair it. Sticky tape isn’t strong enough and will not protect you from electric shock. Instead, get rid of it and replace it.

For more information on keeping your home safe or to arrange for us to come and PAT test your electrical appliances in your home, please contact us on 01271 312500, email us customercare@ndh-ltd.co.uk  or message us through Facebook.

NDH is always looking to involve our customers and if you would like to be part of our customer team please contact our Customer Involvement Officer Tracey Williams tracey.williams@ndh-ltd.co.uk