Did you know? We are urging hospitality businesses to carry out electrical checks
Arun District Council will be working with the hospitality sector to raise awareness of electrical safety in their outdoor spaces.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 requires that any electrical equipment which has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition.
Owners or managers of businesses such as pubs, restaurants, cafés and hotels have a responsibility to ensure their outside spaces are safe, this includes outdoor lighting, heating and speakers.
We want to ensure checks have been made for when the public start to make the most of the warmer weather.
The importance of electric safety checks was highlighted following the heart-breaking and avoidable death of a seven-year-old boy in September 2018, who died after being electrocuted in a pub beer garden in Essex.
The young boy touched unsafe lighting that resulted in an electric shock that tragically killed him. The owner of the pub has since been prosecuted and jailed for nine years for manslaughter.
A leaflet is to be distributed to all smaller hospitality businesses in the Arun district providing advice on:
· managing electrical risks in outdoor areas
· explaining responsibilities
· how to ensure outdoor equipment is safe, and
· an electrical safety checklist
Environmental Health officers will be carrying out targeted follow-up visits later in the year in the hospitality sector, where the focus will be on electrical safety.
We are also reminding businesses that certain work-related accidents, are reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). For example, if an employee is seriously injured at work or a member of the public is taken to hospital and receives treatment for their injury because of a work-related incident at a venue, a report will need to be made under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).