Electrician Risk Assessment (UK)
Electrical work brings risks that are invisible until the moment they cause harm: shock, burns, arc flash and fire. An electrician risk assessment sets out how you control those risks on the job, with safe isolation at its heart, so that work on a circuit is work on a dead circuit.
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The law
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that electrical systems are constructed and maintained to prevent danger, and that work on or near them is carried out so as to prevent injury. The regulations expect that, so far as reasonably practicable, conductors are made dead before work and are proved dead. Live working is permitted only where it is unreasonable to work dead and suitable precautions are taken, which is rare.
The main hazards
- Electric shock and burns from live parts.
- Arc flash from a fault while working near live conductors.
- Fire from faults or poor connections.
- Working at height and in confined spaces to reach installations.
- Others switching a circuit back on while you work.
Safe isolation
The central control is safe isolation: identify the circuit, switch off, lock off with your own lock and a warning label, and prove dead with an approved voltage indicator that you have proved against a known source before and after. Never rely on someone else's isolation or on a label alone.
Other controls
Use the right test equipment to GS38, control access so no one re-energises the circuit, assess for asbestos in older buildings before disturbing fabric, and plan access at height safely as covered in our working at height guide.
Record it
Our risk assessment template gives you the structure to record electrical hazards and controls for the job, ready for a client or principal contractor. The method is in our risk assessment guide.
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