Electrical safety at work: your rights and what to do
A PAT sticker does not make a damaged cable safe. Your employer must control the danger, and you should not have to risk a shock to keep your shift.
The vacuum lead is split. The kitchen socket smells burnt. A supervisor tells you to reset the breaker again because service cannot stop. Your employer must deal with the danger. You should not have to risk a shock to keep your shift.
- 3 tests
- All must pass before dangerous live work
- No cycle
- No blanket annual PAT requirement
- £188
- HSE intervention hourly rate from 1 April 2026
If the equipment looks unsafe, start here
- Stop using it. Switch off or unplug only if safe. Keep others away. Do not touch exposed wires, open a panel or attempt a repair.
- Report the fault. Give the location and describe what happened. Agency staff should tell the host supervisor and their agency.
- Keep evidence. Record the date, time and who you told. Photograph damage only from a safe position. Keep messages off work systems.
- Ask for a safe alternative. Request replacement equipment, competent repair or another task. Involve your union safety rep if the instruction is still to use it.
Example: a care-home cleaner
The only vacuum has exposed wires. Do not tape the lead and finish the corridor. Send the shift lead a message: “The ground-floor vacuum has a split cable with wires exposed. We need it taken out of use and checked. Please arrange a safe replacement.” Keep the reply.
What the law actually requires
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 have applied in England, Wales and Scotland since 1 April 1990. Northern Ireland has the parallel Electricity at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991. The employment protections and tribunal deadlines below are for Great Britain unless we say otherwise.
| Rule | Duty |
|---|---|
| Regulation 4 | Construction, maintenance and work activities must prevent danger so far as reasonably practicable |
| Regulation 14 | Dangerous work on or near live conductors is prohibited unless all three legal conditions are met |
| Regulation 16 | Necessary technical knowledge or experience, or appropriate supervision for the task |
Regulation 4’s “reasonably practicable” qualification is not permission to ignore faults because replacing equipment is inconvenient. Live work has its own stricter conditions.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 sets wider duties to protect employees and others. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment; PUWER 1998 governs suitable work equipment, maintenance and inspection. A risk assessment is not a repair.
What your employer must do, day to day
Leads and plugs should be intact, sockets uncracked and unscorched, and isolation points accessible. Equipment must suit its surroundings. A food-factory washdown area needs protection against water, not the same kit as a dry reception desk.
Your employer needs a system that covers:
- Safe installations and equipment suitable for the job.
- Checks and maintenance proportionate to wear, damage and the environment.
- Prompt withdrawal of faulty equipment and competent repair.
- Adequate space, access and lighting for electrical work under regulation 15.
- Clear instructions on your tasks, fault reporting and who may repair or test.
Follow safe instructions and check plugs and leads before use. Do not use a cracked plug or one missing its fuse cover, bypass the earth or connect extension leads to each other. Follow isolation instructions before cleaning. A machine’s stop button may not isolate its electricity supply.
Maintenance and testing: the PAT myth
Portable appliance testing, or PAT, is not subject to a blanket annual legal requirement. HSE’s guidance says equipment must be maintained to prevent danger, without prescribing one method or interval for every item.
Testing can still be necessary. A visual check finds a split lead, but not every electrical fault. Equipment type, use and environment determine the checks, inspections and tests needed. HSG107 explains the maintenance system.
| Setting | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Office or reception | User checks, planned visual inspections and testing where needed |
| Kitchen, laundry or cleaning | Checks, inspections and tests accounting for water, heat and handling |
| Site or workshop | Frequent checks suited to harsh use, a safe supply and suitable protection |
| Fixed wiring | Inspection and testing intervals set by condition, use and competent assessment |
For fixed wiring, ask for the latest electrical installation condition report, or EICR, the next inspection date and evidence that defects were repaired. BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations, is a technical standard, not legislation. The Electricity at Work Regulations set no universal workplace inspection interval.
Residual current devices, or RCDs, provide additional protection against some faults. They do not make a damaged lead safe or replace isolation. Neither an RCD nor a PAT sticker overrides an obvious defect.
Who counts as competent
Regulation 16 requires technical knowledge or experience where necessary to prevent danger, or appropriate supervision. Competence is specific to the work, not one certificate authorising every task.
A trained caretaker may inspect plugs and leads without being competent to find faults inside a distribution board. Someone testing appliances must know how to use the tester and interpret results. Repairs and installation work need competence for those tasks.
If a task exceeds your training, say so and ask for a competent person. A manager’s instruction does not supply the missing knowledge.
Working live is banned, except in narrow cases
Regulation 14 prohibits work on or so near a live conductor that danger may arise, unless all three conditions below are met. It excludes conductors suitably insulated to prevent danger. Using an intact appliance normally is not the same as opening its live electrical parts.
- Making it dead is unreasonable. It must be unreasonable in all the circumstances for the conductor to be dead while the work takes place.
- Working live is reasonable. It must be reasonable in all the circumstances for that person to work on or near it while live.
- Suitable precautions prevent injury. This includes suitable protective equipment where necessary.
A diagnostic test needing power does not authorise a live repair. “We cannot delay service” does not, by itself, establish that making equipment dead is unreasonable.
HSG85 explains safe isolation: a competent person isolates, secures against reconnection and proves dead. Barriers, insulated tools, permits and assistance may be needed for justified live work. They do not replace regulation 14’s conditions.
Overhead lines and buried cables
Electricity can jump a gap. A farm loader, raised tipper body or long object in a delivery yard can get dangerously close to a line without touching it.
GS6 says to assume overhead lines are live unless their owner confirms otherwise. Avoid the danger area where possible. The planner must arrange clearances, barriers, goalposts or diversion before plant moves. Do not judge clearance by eye from the cab.
For digging, HSG47 combines plans, locating and identifying services, and safe excavation. Plans alone are insufficient. A trained locator user and safe digging methods must account for services that differ from the drawing.
Can you refuse unsafe electrical work?
In Great Britain, certain responses to danger are protected. Not every refusal qualifies.
Section 44 protects employees and other workers against detriment for leaving, proposing to leave or refusing to return while danger persists. You must reasonably believe the danger is serious and imminent and not reasonably be expected to avert it. It also protects appropriate steps to protect yourself or others from danger reasonably believed serious and imminent. Appropriateness depends on circumstances, including your knowledge and available advice.
A detriment could be a warning or lost shifts. Since 31 May 2021, these danger protections cover non-employee workers too. A zero-hours or agency contract does not, by itself, decide your status.
For employees, section 100 makes dismissal for corresponding protected actions automatically unfair, without minimum service. Employees also have protection for reporting conditions reasonably believed harmful or potentially harmful, by reasonable means, where there is no safety representative or committee or using that route is not reasonably practicable.
Non-employee workers cannot claim section 100 unfair dismissal. Their section 44 detriment protection may cover termination of the engagement. Get advice on the correct claim.
If shifts disappear after a safety report, save earlier and later rotas, messages and the explanation. Contact your rep, Acas or Citizens Advice. Ask about your status and deadline.
Do not miss the tribunal deadline
Acas confirms the 1 October 2026 deadline change. For most claims about events on or after that date, including safety detriment and unfair dismissal, the usual limit is six months minus one day. Earlier events normally retain three months minus one day. Existing disputes do not all get a fresh clock.
Example: dismissal at the changeover
A relevant dismissal date of 1 October 2026 gives an initial deadline of 31 March 2027. For 30 September 2026, it is normally 29 December 2026. Both are before adjustments for Acas early conciliation.
Notify Acas within your limit. Timely notification pauses the clock for early conciliation; a grievance or appeal does not. Multiple incidents and notice periods can affect the calculation. Get your exact deadline checked.
If you are self-employed, a contractor or agency staff
Regulation 3 binds employers and self-employed people for matters within their control. Businesses also have wider duties towards non-employees affected by their work. Calling you a contractor does not make their dangerous supply your problem alone.
Example: an agency kitchen porter
The restaurant supplies a dishwasher with a damaged electrical connection. Report it to the host supervisor and your agency. The host’s control matters to its safety duties. An argument over who employs you is no reason to keep faulty equipment in service.
Genuinely self-employed people should not assume employee or worker tribunal protections apply. Agree how isolation and site supplies are controlled, and use a safe system yourself. See contractor safety duties.
Reporting an electrical injury or dangerous incident
Record work-related shocks, burns and near misses internally. RIDDOR reporting depends on legal criteria. In Great Britain, the responsible person, usually the employer for an employee’s injury, makes the statutory report, not the injured employee.
The RIDDOR 2013 injury rules include burns covering more than 10% of the body’s total surface area, or causing significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs. An accident that incapacitates you for your normal work for more than seven consecutive days is also reportable. The accident day is excluded; the responsible person must report within 15 days of the accident. Work-related accidental deaths must be reported too.
A shock causing unconsciousness, resuscitation or hospital admission exceeding 24 hours is not automatically a specified injury. The resuscitation/hospital-admission category concerns certain injuries arising from work in an enclosed space. Other injury categories or the over-seven-day rule may apply.
Under schedule 2, a short circuit or overload causing fire or explosion is reportable if it stops the plant involved for more than 24 hours or causes a significant risk of death. No injury is required. Certain contact with, or discharge from, overhead lines is also reportable.
Report unresolved hazards separately. For shops, restaurants, bars and care homes, HSE directs you to the local council’s environmental health department. For HSE-enforced workplaces, use its concern route. Northern Ireland uses HSENI and a separate reporting regime. See reporting work-related injuries.
What enforcement can do
Inspectors can require improvements, prohibit dangerous work and pursue prosecution. This does not recover lost shifts or dismissal compensation, which need separate employment advice. See HSE enforcement, training duties and protective equipment.
Example: a bill before any fine
For HSE-enforced cases with a material breach identified in writing, Fee for Intervention recovers costs. The rate from 1 April 2026 is £188 an hour. An illustrative four-hour visit plus two hours of report work costs £1,128. This is not a fine.
What is in force and what is still scheduled?
The electrical duties are already in force. The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not replace them. The longer Great Britain tribunal deadline took effect on 1 October 2026.
From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay’s lower earnings limit and waiting days were removed. After an injury, check your eligibility. This does not give every “worker” or self-employed person automatic entitlement.
Get your union involved and use the right advice route
Tell your union safety rep about faults and pressure to keep working. A shared report can identify problems across shifts rather than leave one cleaner arguing alone. Ask what representation and legal help your membership covers.
Unite organises in food, logistics and construction; UNISON in health and care; GMB in retail and warehouses; IWGB among outsourced and gig workers. These are starting points, not exclusive boundaries. Check coverage and terms before assuming a union will take an existing dispute.
In England, Wales and Scotland, Acas provides free employment advice and early conciliation. Citizens Advice and law centres can advise or refer you. Safety regulators are not substitutes for employment advice.
Northern Ireland uses different employment routes
Use the Labour Relations Agency for employment advice and early conciliation, and HSENI for safety enforcement. Do not apply Great Britain’s sections 44/100 or October 2026 deadline change to a Northern Ireland claim. Get the local protection and deadline checked. See our Northern Ireland guide.
Questions people ask
Is annual PAT testing legally required?
No blanket annual rule applies. Maintenance must prevent danger, with checks, inspections and tests suited to the risk. Some faults need testing because they are invisible.
Does every check need a qualified electrician?
No. Simple user checks differ from repairs and testing. Regulation 16 requires knowledge or experience for the particular task, or appropriate supervision.
When can electrical work be done live?
Where danger may arise, all three regulation 14 conditions must pass: making it dead is unreasonable, working live is reasonable for that person, and suitable precautions prevent injury.
How often must fixed wiring be inspected?
The Electricity at Work Regulations set no universal interval. Ask for the latest EICR, its recommended next inspection and evidence that dangerous defects were repaired.
Must every shock be reported under RIDDOR?
No. The injury or dangerous-occurrence criteria determine statutory reporting. Record and investigate shocks internally even when they do not meet those criteria.
Can you lose your job for refusing danger?
For Great Britain employees, dismissal for a protected safety action can be automatically unfair without minimum service. Other workers have detriment protection. The legal danger conditions and your actions matter.
Sources
- Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, legislation.gov.uk, including regulation 4, regulation 14 and regulation 16
- Electricity at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991, legislation.gov.uk
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, legislation.gov.uk
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, legislation.gov.uk
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, legislation.gov.uk
- Maintaining portable electric equipment, INDG236, HSE
- Maintaining portable electrical equipment, HSG107, HSE
- Electricity at work: safe working practices, HSG85, HSE
- Avoiding danger from overhead power lines, GS6, HSE
- Avoiding danger from underground services, HSG47, HSE
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 44 and section 100, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, updated 1 October 2026
- Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update, GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026
- RIDDOR 2013, regulation 4 and schedule 2, legislation.gov.uk
- HSE fees and charges: current rates and What is Fee for Intervention?, HSE
- Kind of accident statistics in Great Britain, 2025, HSE. Source of the estimate that around half of reportable non-fatal employee injuries are reported
- Only 1 in 218 workplaces inspected for safety failures during pandemic, TUC, 13 May 2021
- Contact HSE: identifying the enforcing authority and raising concerns, HSE
- Electrical safety, HSENI
- Employment advice and early conciliation in Northern Ireland, Labour Relations Agency