Fire Safety Course: Awareness Training for Electricians

Electrical equipment and installations can start fires. HSG168, HSE's guidance on fire safety in construction, lists faulty or misused electrical equipment, temporary lighting and halogen lamps, and damaged or overloaded installations among the ignition sources on site, and Home Office guidance says electrical equipment and wiring are common causes of fire. As the people who design, install and maintain electrical systems, electricians are well placed to prevent those fires, and their own work can create new risks.

Fire safety awareness goes beyond knowing where the nearest exit is. Electricians need to understand how their daily work creates fire risks, from soldering near combustible materials to leaving a fire alarm isolated or a cable hole unsealed. They also need to know what to do if a fire breaks out: raise the alarm, use an extinguisher only if trained and it is safe, and leave without delay.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety law. It requires the responsible person to give employees adequate fire safety training, and article 23 requires every employee to take reasonable care and to report serious danger and shortcomings in fire protection. For electricians that means understanding the fire risk assessment, the site's hot work arrangements, and their personal responsibility to prevent fires through good workmanship and compliance with BS 7671 wiring regulations.

HSE says fires need three things to start: a source of ignition (heat), a source of fuel (something that burns) and oxygen. HSG168 adds that if any one of these is missing a fire cannot start, so keeping the three apart reduces the chance of a fire. This model, often called the fire triangle, is the basis of fire prevention. Once a fire has started it spreads by conduction, convection and radiation.

HSG168's ignition sources on site include hot work, faulty or misused electrical equipment, temporary lighting and halogen lamps, overloaded or damaged installations and bunched cables, heaters, friction heat from disc cutters, static, smokers' materials and arson. HSE's examples of fuel include wood, paper, plastic, rubber or foam, loose packaging and waste rubbish, and oxygen used in welding adds to the oxygen in the air. Practical prevention means clearing combustibles before hot work, keeping waste away from distribution boards, and keeping temporary electrics in good order.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service lists Class A (solid combustible materials such as paper, fabric and wood), Class B (flammable liquids), Class C (flammable gases), Class D (combustible metals) and Class F (cooking oils), and lists fires involving electrical equipment separately, without a letter. It also says there is no single fire extinguisher that can be used on all classes of fire, so the type must suit the fire.

HSG168 says extinguishers must be appropriate to the nature of the potential fire: water, foam or multipurpose dry powder for wood, paper and cloth; dry powder or foam for flammable liquids; and carbon dioxide (CO2) or dry powder for electrical items. Extinguishers made to BS EN 3 are red with a coloured zone showing the agent. That is a convention in a standard, not a legal requirement. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service gives red for water, cream for foam, blue for dry powder and black for CO2, but always read the label and the fire rating printed on the canister.

For electrical fires, CO2 is the common choice where electrical equipment is the main risk. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service says CO2 extinguishers put out fires by displacing the oxygen the fire needs to burn, are mainly used for electrical fire risks, and also put out Class B fires.

Dry powder extinguishers are also listed for electrical items, but HSG168 says dry powder has no cooling effect and may reduce visibility, and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service advises it only for electrical equipment up to 1000 volts. HSG168 marks water and foam extinguishers "do not use" on electrical fires and no source used in this course supports switching off and then using water. Anyone expected to use an extinguisher must be trained in choosing and using it and must know when to tackle a fire and when to leave it.

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HSG168 defines hot work as any process that generates flame, sparks or heat, and names grinding and cutting metal, torch-applied roofing, heat guns and soldering irons among common hot work. It says hot work should be designed out where practicable and replaced with cold methods. For electricians, hot work includes soldering, using heat guns on heat shrink, and cutting cable tray or trunking with a grinder.

Where hot work cannot be avoided, HSG168 says use a permit-to-work. Before the work, remove loose combustibles in and around the area, beneath it, inside breaches in walls and floors and on the other side of a wall or partition, and protect what cannot be moved with non-combustible board. Have at least two suitable fire extinguishers within reach, keep a careful watch during the work and breaks, and then keep a continuous fire watch for at least an hour after the work ends, with at least one more check two hours after. HSG168 also says all hot work should be finished two hours before the end of the working day.

Permanent electrical work prevents fires too. BS 7671 deals with protection against thermal effects in Chapter 42, and the cable sizing process using the current-carrying capacities in BS 7671 Appendix 4 keeps cables within their safe operating temperature. Regulation 421.1.7 requires arc fault detection devices on single-phase AC final circuits supplying socket-outlets rated up to 32 A in high-rise residential buildings, houses in multiple occupation, purpose-built student accommodation and care homes, and recommends them elsewhere. Section 527 requires holes left where wiring passes through a fire-resisting wall or floor to be sealed again.

In the event of a fire, the priority is always life safety. HSG168 says everyone on site, even for a few hours, must be given enough information to know what to do in a fire. On their first day that means the escape routes and assembly points, the location and use of the fire alarm point in their area, and any significant fire hazard where they are working. Fire action notices on major escape routes should say what to do on discovering a fire and on hearing the alarm.

On discovering a fire: raise the alarm straight away by the site's method, such as the nearest call point. Do not presume that someone else has called the fire and rescue service. Only tackle a small fire if you have been trained, it is safe and your way out stays clear, and do not delay calling the fire and rescue service while you do. If in doubt, raise the alarm, leave and call the fire and rescue service.

When the alarm sounds, HSG168 says everyone must make their escape without delay. Make equipment such as oxy-fuel gear safe only if the work method says how to do so without putting yourself in danger; otherwise just leave. Do not stop to collect belongings, go to the assembly point so that you can be accounted for, and do not go back in until you are told it is safe. On construction sites, CDM regulation 30 requires emergency arrangements, including evacuation procedures, that everyone is familiar with and that are tested at suitable intervals.

The law does not require a "fire marshal" by name. The Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person, where necessary, to nominate competent people to carry out fire-fighting measures and a sufficient number of competent people to carry out evacuation. HSG168 says the title is not important: fire warden, fire marshal and fire safety co-ordinator are all examples. This course is not fire marshal training. If you are nominated for the role, the responsible person must make sure your training is adequate for it.