Care Homes: Electrical Safety

(asked on 22nd February 2016) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has undertaken of the electrical safety and adequacy of measures to prevent electrical fires in care homes in England.


Answered by
Mike Penning Portrait
Mike Penning
This question was answered on 26th February 2016

Fire safety in care homes is the responsibility of the operator who is required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to assess the risk from fire to residents and employees and to implement appropriate fire precautions to prevent fires and mitigate the risk that, should a fire break out, lives are not put at risk. This would include mitigating the risk of and from electrical fires.

The Government’s fire safety risk assessment guidance for residential care premises provides detailed advice on ensuring electrical equipment is safe, and is inspected regularly by a competent electrical engineer in accordance with the Electricity at Work Regulations.

It is for local fire and rescue authorities to determine whether the specific fire precautions and management and maintenance arrangements in place in any particular residential care premises are sufficient to comply with the provisions of the Order.

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