Socket outlets - the minimum for safety

Traditionally, from the onset of UK homes being fitted with electrical wiring for the first time right up until the 1950s, each room typically had only one or two electrical sockets installed for each room. Even well into the early nineties, many homes had only a couple of twin sockets installed at best. Recently, this has been changing.

One reason for the change is that people today use far more household electrical appliances than they used to. While homes have been fitted with electric cookers and kettles, washing machines, spin dryers and fridges for many decades now, until relatively recently, most households only had one, or at most two, TVs. Now they may have three or more, sometimes one in almost every room. Add to these, games consoles, HiFi systems, VCRs / DVD player/recorders, radio alarms, extra electric kitchen equipment such as blenders, tin openers, toasters, plus a far greater number of plugged in light fittings, and you can see why more sockets are now required than ever before.

Indeed, the situation is even more pressing today, because most homes now have computers - sometimes several - and these may each require several sockets for peripherals, and now there are home cinema systems as well. Teenagers (and fathers) often have electric guitars. These too need at least one extra socket outlet each instrument.

At Christmas, there is now an even greater risk, especially as many families now install extensive exterior festive lights, all often driven from one socket outlet and , to make matters worse, technologies are being developed that will allow voice, data, command and control signals to be transmitted over existing domestic electrical cables.

With all these appliances vying for socket outlet space, trouble can quickly arise in terms of safety - if there is an insufficient number of socket outlets in a room, experience has shown that most people are quite happy to use adaptors and extension leads. This results in trailing wires and can cause overloading, leading to fire risk. There is also an increased risk of electrocution because of possible loss of earth. In a five year period, there were around 13, 500 fires in homes that were attributed to an electrical source of ignition, with approximately 30 deaths / year attributed to electrical causes. A significant number of these would have been caused by just such overloaded socket outlet scenarios.

Also, lengthy flexes placed under carpets and other floor coverings are also liable to reate a fire danger with people walking over them. Such uses of flexes can, in addition, lead to incorrect and hazardous use of mains connectors.

Many householders themselves are unhappy with this situation, and extra socket outlets are often requested. Some surveys have shown that around half of all new homeowners require additional socket outlets within twelve months of purchase of a new home.

Part P of the Building Regulations:

Since 1st January 2005, electrical installation work carried out in homes in England and Wales have become subject to the revised Part P of the Building Regulations. This requires - among many other things - that: 'Reasonable provision shall be made in the design, installation and testing of electrical installations in order to protect persons from fire or injury'. It also requires that: 'Sufficient information shall be provided so that persons wishing to operate, maintain or alter an electrical installation can do so with reasonable safety'.

Electrical contractors and installers should know that these requirements apply to ALL electrical installation work carried out in such dwelling, and that failure to comply is a criminal offence.

In England and Wales, there is a recommended minimum number for what would normally be considered adequate provision of socket outlets in the home (see attached ECA draft document that is part of this VoltiBULLETIN). It should be noted that in Scotland, the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 place statutory requirements for the provision of socket outlets (again, see the ECA draft document). These requirements will be exceeded in practice, but it is important to recognise that they represent the legal minimum in Scotland.

There are many issues, as well as cost implications for adding sufficient numbers of socket outlets to existing homes, especially those for student accommodation, for example, as well as for fitting out new homes. This VoltiBULLETIN touches on all of them.

Another issue deriving from increasing numbers of socket outlets - but not safety related - is that when the number of wiring accessories was strictly limited, their visual impact on a room was minor, so that function rather than appearance was the main issue. As a result the design of the product was left up to the electrical and manufacturing design engineers. However, as numbers of installed socket outlets has increased, and will increase still more, their appearance has had to change for the better. The Legrand attachment to this VoltiBULLETIN looks at wiring accessories (including socket outlets) in terms of modern, stylish design.

Testing domestic wiring installations:

Yet another issue, especially bearing in mind all of the above, is the testing of domestic wiring installations for electrical safety, as well as Portable Appliance Testing (PAT), though the latter is only a legal requirement in the commercial environment, for example, in an office environment.

A Periodic Inspection is an inspection on the condition of an existing electrical installation, to identify any deficiencies against the national safety standard for electrical installations.

The extent of periodic inspection and testing depends on the age and condition of the installation and whether previous records including test results exist.

The first step should therefore be to carry out an exploratory survey to determine the above criteria and then agree with the customer on the extent of the work required. Visual inspection of the system, including all distribution boards is important, as is taking a close look at a sample of wiring accessories (such as socket outlets).

It is also a good idea to test (or re-test) easily damaged circuits such as those supplying socket-outlet circuits. Where no previous test results exist then ideally all circuits should be tested, but this may be impractical for large installations. The results of the inspection and testing should be recorded on a periodic inspection report and accompanied by a schedule of inspections and schedule of test results.

In terms of PAT, it has been estimated that at any one time, roughly a fifth of all workplace electrical appliances need testing to ensure that they pose no hazard to users. PAT testers are essentially test data collection instruments that measure and check the safety of portable electrical equipment in the workplace.

Since the early 1990s The Electricity At Work Regulations have led to the introduction and use of PAT. Most large employers now recognise today their statutory responsibilities for maintaining a safe working environment. Demand has been such that many electrical contractors, service and facilities management organisations now provide specialist electrical appliance testing services. Inevitably, there is often now fierce competition, and any PAT instrument or system that save time and money - cutting testing time - is welcomed.

Modern electrical safety testing, in terms of portable appliances, is about 'total PAT solutions', and top end solutions may integrate modern software systems with - for example - Bluetooth enabled testers. The result is the generation of client test reports in hard copy or CD format, plus field testing activity monitoring. Bluetooth, or other wireless connectivity solutions, reduce or obviate the need to constantly plug and unplug PAT cables to printers and PCs. This greatly reduces the time needed for data transfer, as well as test and labelling activities.

PAT today has been made as easy as possible. The possibility of error is almost eliminated and, in addition, electrical contractors involved in PAT are able, using good PAT instruments and related software, to manage their clients' electrical portable appliance equipment register for them.

Returning to the safety of electrical installations, though in this case in terms of the commercial environment rather than in the home, linking electrical safety testing to other safety management routines (eg: periodic checks on equipment such as emergency lighting and fire alarms) presents an opportunity for electrical contractors already involved in PAT.

Some useful links:

Getting to grips with Part P testing
https://www.voltimum.co.uk/cm.jsp?action=view&viewmode=details&pagenumber=1&cat=30&brand=&cmid=3115&query=Getting+to+grips+with+Part+P+testing &universe=search.quick

NICEIC Domestic Installer Scheme is Government-approved, registered installers officially comply with Part P
https://www.voltimum.co.uk/cm.jsp?action=view&viewmode=details&pagenumber=1&cat=30&brand=&cmid=2048&query=electrical+installation+testing &universe=search.quick

Domestic Electrical Installations: Technical Update (NICEIC Training)
https://www.voltimum.co.uk/cm.jsp?action=view&viewmode=details&pagenumber=1&cat=44&brand=NTU&cmid=5002&query=electrical+installation+testing &universe=search.quick

Electrical installations - periodic testing
http://www.niceic.org.uk/consumers/pir.html

Alternatively, use the search function on Voltimum.