Work on electrical equipment, machinery, or installations

People working on electrical equipment, machinery or installations must be competent to do so. The level of competence required to do a task is dependent upon the complexity of that task and the amount of knowledge required. Assessing the suitability of an individual to do a task requires evidence of:

  • Training to an appropriate level in the area of work
  • Experience of achieving a suitable standard in similar work.
  • Regular re-assessment.

People who cannot demonstrate competence should not be allowed to work unless they are supervised by someone who is. The Memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 provides information on competence.

If work is completed by someone who is not competent this could cause injury and even death which unfortunately happened in this situation.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned against the severe dangers of inadequate electrical safety systems in farm buildings  following a recently concluded prosecution at a Crown Court.

Britain’s workplace regulator has highlighted the substantial risks arising from using poorly maintained equipment after a woman was killed while cooking food in a farm caravan.

The woman was electrocuted in 2017 while using a cooker which was poorly insulated and connected at a caravan.

The HM Principal Inspector of health and safety, who managed HSE’s involvement in the case, said the case has highlighted the severe risks that can arise when farm equipment and buildings are poorly maintained.

“This was a completely avoidable and foreseeable incident. She was killed because work on an electrical system hadn’t been done by a professional electrician with the right skills and experience.”

At the time of the incident, the woman shared the caravan with her partner, the son of the farmer, who owned the farm.

The woman was found collapsed by the cooker by her partner, who also received an electric shock when he touched the cooker.

Five days after the incident, a qualified electrician examined the electrical installation at the scene and found it was in a poor and dangerous condition. The potential for an electric shock was immediately obvious, with poor and incorrect connections, inadequate earthing and no protective devices in place, as was required by manufacturer’s instructions.

The HSE inspector said that the dangers can be particularly acute in farm equipment and buildings in rural areas which may not be maintained regularly.

In the course of the investigation into the death of the woman led by the Police, assisted by HSE, it was established that the generator had been modified several weeks earlier by the woman’s partner, who was not a qualified electrician. He had fitted a new invertor, despite being told the work needed to be done by a qualified electrician.

“Electricity kills or severely injures people every year. You should make  sure that the only people who are working with your electrics are competent to do the job. Equipment repairs or alterations to an electrical installation should only be carried out by people with knowledge of the risks and the precautions needed. Normally this means a professional electrician.”

During the investigation, it emerged that the owner of the farm had been complicit with the work his son had carried out on his property, and as an employer, had a duty to maintain the electrical system relating to the caravan to ensure that it was not dangerous. As the women lived in the caravan, he also had a general duty of care towards her to ensure she was not exposed to risks to her safety. It was deemed he had breached those duties.

The partner of the woman and son of the owner of the farm was sentenced for gross negligence manslaughter receiving six year and six months in prison and the owner of the farm was sentenced for charges under Section 3 of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He received a 10 month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Information provided by:
https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/01/11/hse-warns-of-electrical-safety-dangers-in-farms-when-reacting-to-manslaughter-case-in-warwickshire/
https://www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/withequip.htm