Fires are an all-too common occurrence. They’re usually at no fault of the user whatsoever and can come without warning, but it’s really worth checking over your electrical equipment regular to ensure nothing is amiss.

Statistics gained by the Electrical Safety Council recently found that in 2007, over 19% of 43,000 fires caused in the home were caused by electrical equipment/appliances malfunctioning.

You only have to look at more recent events to see how fatal electrical negligence can be. A fire in Newark last Thursday took the life of a man, and it’s believed that the cause of the fire was electrical related.

"An electrical fire could happen to anyone at any time, although the consequences on this occasion were particularly devastating and our sympathies are with the gentleman's family," said deputy chief fire officer John Buckley to the BBC.

"Our advice is to switch off all electrical items that can be turned off when they are not in use, make sure sockets are not overloaded, and check for loose wires and faulty plugs.

There are a number of steps you can take to prevent electrical fires in the home, many of which are pretty simple to carry out.

If you’re moving into a new house, particularly if you’re renting the place, it is the responsibility of the person who has rented you that property to make sure your electrical are in full working order. This means rigorously testing the wiring in the building for faults, and is a legal requirement.

Those not renting properties can also get their wiring checked. Make sure you get a qualified fixed wiring technician to carry out the work, and make sure you complete the process if you’re moving into an older house, as some of the electrical installations could be very old as well.

Sockets may seem like simple things that are vital tools to our daily lives, but they can malfunction and become dangerous. Make sure you regularly check your sockets, and if they look like they’ve got burn marks on them, are becoming too hot or have anything else amiss like chips, cracks etc, it may be worth calling a registered electrician to check them.

Watch out for overloading. If you’ve ever heard people spouting off about plugging too many double adaptors in, there’s a reason. Plugging too much stuff into a socket and using them all at once can cause an electrical overload, and potentially cause a spark. There’s also the added weight of using so many plugs to factor in, as the extra weight on the plug socket from the abundance of adaptors can interfere with the plug’s inner workings.

Fuse blown in your equipment? Make sure you’re using the right one for the appliance you’re using. More information can usually be found in a sticker on the appliance, or in the manual. As a rule of thumb:

  • Appliances up to 700 watts use 3 amp fuses
  • 700 to 1000 watts use 5 amp fuses
  • Anything more than 1000 watts uses a 13 amp fuse

Cabling on appliances can gradually, over time, become a danger. I personally have had a laptop charger decide to suddenly spark on me (scary moment!) so it’s really worth checking over the cables of your appliances every so often to make sure they’re alright. If there’s wires poking out, or if it’s becoming a bit frayed, don’t trust it to chance.

One of the simplest things you can do to protect against electrical fires is simply turn things off when they’re not being used. When things are on standby there’s still electrical power being supplied so it can still be hazardous, so make sure you’re switching off your plugs at night.

Written by Bill Earlie at www.tester.co.uk