Electrical fault danger
Nov 21, 2011
The second most common cause of fires, with arson being the first, is electrical faults.
It is therefore vital that all commercial premises have their fixed wiring tested at least every 5 years, sooner for certain types of premises or businesses, to highlight any problems with the fixed electrics so that these can be rectified before something goes wrong.
This is only part of the picture though. Electrical faults can still occur at any time, particularly with regard to the main fuse boxes and mains distribution boards in buildings. A fault can create heat in the problem area and can cause sparks to be emitted. Whilst this, in itself, may not actually cause a fire it is highly likely to result in a fire if combustible material is stored in the same area.
It is therefore vital that the area around fuse boxes or electrical distribution boards is kept clear of combustible material so that it does not result in a fire that could destroy a building and resulting in a significant claim on your insurance arrangements.
Clearly the loss of a building will have a significant effect on your business and any resultant claim will ultimately be reflected in your insurance costs for as long as 5 years. Therefore it is vital for the protection of your business that you take action on both the testing of your electrical systems and any storage arrangements around fuse boxes and distribution boards.
It might be a nice dry warm place to store materials that need to be kept as such, but it has the potential to significantly effect your business if the end result is fire which badly damages the building itself.
