How I Use the Electrical Safety Template with Customers in Pilla
Electrical safety is one of those topics where the gap between "nothing has gone wrong" and "someone is dead" is terrifyingly small. I've walked into venues where a chef is using a fryer with a cable held together by electrical tape, and nobody has thought twice about it. The fryer works. It's been like that for months. And then one day the tape gives, moisture gets in, and you've got a fatality.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 put the duty squarely on employers. But the law is only the starting point. What matters is whether your team knows what a damaged plug looks like, whether they'd actually pull a piece of equipment out of service, and whether anyone is tracking that your fixed wiring inspection isn't three years overdue. That's what this article covers: what your electrical safety policy needs to include, a template you can edit for your operation, and the bits that trip people up when an HSE inspector asks questions.
Key Takeaways
- What is electrical safety in health and safety? An electrical safety policy covers risk assessment of electrical hazards, pre-use equipment checks, testing protocols, competent person requirements, and maintenance of fixed wiring installations. It sits within your health and safety management system as a control for one of the most serious workplace risks
- Why do you need an electrical safety policy? The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require employers to maintain electrical systems in a safe condition and ensure work on or near electrical equipment is carried out safely. An HSE inspector will check your arrangements, and poor electrical management can result in prohibition notices
- How do you set it up in Pilla? Use the knowledge hub template below, edit it to match your operation, and share it with your team through the app so everyone has access and you can track who's read it
- How do you automate the follow-up? Set up Poppi to chase staff who haven't acknowledged the policy and flag when it's due for review
Article Content
Understanding What's Required of You
Electricity can kill. That's not dramatic language for effect. It's the reason the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 exist, and it's why electrical safety sits near the top of any health and safety management system. Burns, electric shock, fires, and arc flash injuries are all possible outcomes of poor electrical management, and most of them are preventable.
Your duties under the regulations cover the full lifecycle of electrical equipment and installations. You need to risk assess electrical hazards, make sure equipment is suitable for its intended use and the conditions it operates in, train staff to check appliances before use, test equipment at appropriate intervals, and ensure all electrical work is done by competent, qualified engineers. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 underpins all of this with its general duty to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of employees.
The practical side is where most businesses fall down. I've consulted with hundreds of operations, and the policy usually exists. What's missing is the connection between the document and the Tuesday afternoon reality. Staff don't know what to look for on a plug. Extension leads are daisy-chained across walkways. The last fixed wiring inspection was six years ago, and the Electrical Condition Report is in a drawer nobody can find.
An HSE inspector will ask to see your electrical safety arrangements. They'll want evidence of risk assessment, a testing regime, competent person records, and your Electrical Condition Report from the most recent periodic inspection. If your fixed wiring inspection is overdue or your portable appliance testing has no documented schedule, that's a finding. In serious cases, they can issue a prohibition notice that shuts down equipment or areas until the issue is resolved.
One thing I've learned from close to twenty years doing this: the businesses that get electrical safety right are the ones where the pre-use check is a genuine habit, not a box on a form. When the kitchen porter checks the plug on the mixer before switching it on because that's just what you do here, you've got a culture. When the check only happens because someone's watching, you've got a problem.
Setting It Up as a Knowledge Hub Entry
I've built an electrical safety template in Pilla covering risk assessment, equipment suitability, pre-use checks, testing protocols, extension lead management, installation and maintenance requirements, and monitoring arrangements. It gives you a structured starting point, but you need to edit it to match how your operation actually works.
In the knowledge hub, create a new entry and tag it with "Health and Safety System". Use the same tag across all of your health and safety policies so they are grouped together and Poppi can track them as a set. Assign the entry to all teams so that everyone in the business can access it.
The template is designed to be edited, not just filed. Read through every section. Where it says "Company Name", replace it with your business name. If you don't use extension leads, slim that section down. If you have specific high-risk electrical equipment, add detail about how it's managed. The HSE inspector wants to see that your policy reflects your operation, not that you've downloaded a generic document and put your logo on it.
16. Electrical Safety
Electricity can kill or severely injure people and cause damage to property. Company name have a duty to take precautions when working with or near electricity and electrical equipment to significantly reduce the risk of injury to our employees and others who may be harmed by our working practices.
Company Name aim to reduce the risk associated with the use of electricity and electrical equipment by following these safety arrangements.
Responsible Persons will conduct a risk assessment of any electrical hazards, which covers, who could be harmed by them, how the level of risk has been established, and the precautions taken to control that risk
Ensure that the electrical installation and the electrical equipment is suitable for its intended use, the conditions in which it is operated, and is only used for its intended purpose
Provide training to staff to make them aware of the risk associated with use of electrical appliances and instruction on how to check appliances prior to use.
Ensure electrical appliances are checked prior to use. Remove equipment where:
the plug or connector is damaged
the cable has been repaired with tape, is not secure, or internal wires are visible etc
burn marks or stains are present (suggesting overheating)
Identify a suitable frequency for electrical appliances to be tested based on equipment in use and HSE guidance (Maintaining portable electrical equipment in low-risk environments) and put protocols in place to ensure they are tested at the designated frequency.
Electrical equipment must be tested by a competent person - a competent person is someone who has the suitable training, skill, and knowledge for the task to be undertaken to prevent injury to themselves and others.
Provide an adequate amount of plug points to reduce the requirement for extension leads, as they pose a danger of overheating and can become a trip hazard within the venue.
Ensure all electrical installation work (including repairs) is undertaken by a Competent, Qualified Electrical Engineer.
Arrange for a periodic inspection of the fixed hard wiring at the frequency identified by an Electrical Engineer (usually 5 years) – This work must be undertaken by an Electrical Engineer accredited to NICEIC.
Ensure resulting documentation issued (Electrical Condition Report) following the periodic inspection of the fixed hard wiring is reviewed and filed in the Company Name safety file.
Monitor the use the of electrical equipment and address any reported hazards where electrical safety is compromised.
This is a preview of the template. In Pilla, you can edit this to match your business.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
The pre-use check section is the most important part for day-to-day electrical safety. I'd want to see that your staff know the three things that should trigger immediate removal from service: a damaged plug or connector (cracked casing, bent pins, loose connections), a cable that's been repaired with tape or has visible internal wires, and burn marks or stains suggesting overheating. If your team can spot those three and act on them, you've covered the most common causes of electrical incidents in workplaces.
The testing arrangements need to be specific. "We test our equipment regularly" means nothing. I want to see a defined frequency based on equipment type and HSE guidance for maintaining portable electrical equipment in low-risk environments, a named competent person or contractor who carries out the testing, and a record-keeping system. The same applies to your periodic inspection of fixed hard wiring: a defined frequency (usually five years, set by an Electrical Engineer), carried out by someone accredited to NICEIC, with the resulting Electrical Condition Report reviewed and filed.
Common mistakes I see:
The extension lead section is where I find the most problems in practice. The template covers providing adequate plug points to reduce the need for extension leads, but most businesses skip this and treat extension leads as permanent fixtures. I walked into a bar last year where four extension leads were daisy-chained behind the back bar. The leads were warm to the touch. That's an overheating risk and a fire waiting to happen. If you're relying on extension leads permanently, you need more socket outlets installed. The template says it. Act on it.
The competent person requirement catches people out. Electrical installation work, including repairs, must be done by a competent, qualified Electrical Engineer. I still find businesses where a "handy" member of staff has rewired a plug or attempted a cable repair. The template makes this clear, but I'd want to see that you've actually communicated it to your team, not just filed it.
The monitoring and reporting section is often the thinnest part of the policy. The template includes monitoring the use of electrical equipment and addressing reported hazards, but in practice, this only works if reporting is easy and staff trust that something will happen when they raise a concern. If reports go nowhere, people stop making them.
Automate the Follow-Up with Poppi
Writing the policy is one thing. Making sure your team has actually read it is another. Poppi can handle the chasing so you don't have to.
If you mark the knowledge hub entry as mandatory, Poppi will track who's read it and who hasn't. You can set up automations to chase staff who are behind, notify managers when someone completes the policy, and get a regular report showing where the gaps are.
Here are three automations I'd set up for any knowledge hub policy:
Tom, you have 2 overdue policies to read and acknowledge
Overdue training reminders
Automatically chase team members who have mandatory policies they haven't read yet. Poppi sends the reminder so you don't have to.
Tom, you have 2 overdue policies to read and acknowledge
Emma has completed a mandatory policy
Video completion alerts
Get notified when a team member finishes reading or watching a policy, so you can track progress without chasing.
Emma has completed a mandatory policy
Training Report: 87% team completion. Tom and Sarah behind on 2 mandatory policies, due 3 days ago.
Training gap analysis
Get a regular AI report showing which team members are behind on mandatory policies and where the gaps are across your team.
Training Report: 87% team completion. Tom and Sarah behind on 2 mandatory policies, due 3 days ago.