Garden Electrical Safety Advice From Electricians

Your local electrician can provide electrical safety advice for the use of electrical equipment in the garden and around the home to avoid electrical accidents. Electricians will confirm that the risk of an electric shock is greater outdoors than indoors. The electricians will make reference to possible wet conditions and also the potential of physical contact with the ground.

Residual Current Devices provided by Electricians

A Residual Current Device or RCD is a safety device that automatically switches off electricity when an earth fault is detected. All socket-outlets that are used for plugging in portable electrical equipment for use in the outdoors should have RCD protection as your electrician will explain.

Your electrician will advise that the RCD has a maximum rated residual operating current of 30 milliamperes (mA). If all socket-outlets are not protected by an RCD, the electrician will advise that you purchase a good quality plug-in RCD adaptor, but should only be used as a temporary measure. The electrician will advise a safer option whereby the electrician will install a permanent RCD protection to all socket-outlets. The electricians will do this so that all sockets outlets may be used for plugging in 230 V outdoor electrical equipment such as lawn mowers etc.

The Residual Current Device needs to be tested quarterly by the users of the electrical installation or alternatively get an electrician to quickly check over the installation. The electrician should have placed a notice near the Residual Current Device. Either the electrician or user should press the test button to check that the Residual Current Device switches off the supply immediately. The electrician will advice regular testing, to ensure correct operation of the Residual Current Device mechanism in the event of a fault.

Lawn Mowing

The electrician will point out that it is easy for the user to cut through cables of electric lawn mowers or other electric garden tools. This poses an electrical safety hazard as your electrician will confirm and also a risk of injury from contact with the moving parts of the mower.

Follow the electrician’s safety guidelines:

Purchase a decent lawn mower
Read the instructions carefully
Look after the mower, cables, connections and plug, so that you do not have to call an electrician
Check the socket-outlet has Residual Current Device protection, if not call an electrician.
The electrician is right do not cut grass in the wet
Either you or the electrician should test the RCD using its test button
Wear shoes that give foot protection to maintain electrical safety as your electrician will confirm.
Make sure you keep children well away from the lawn mower
The electrician will tell you not to pull a lawn mower close to your feet
Unplug the lawn mower and wait until the blades have stopped rotating, before doing any other work

Electricians will continue to mention the benefits of following manufacturers' instructions, and the electrician should check the lawn mower is working correctly.

Hedge Trimming

The electrician will describe how the electric hedge trimmers can cut through their own electric cables or those of other electric garden implements. The electrician will also point to the possibility of injury to anyone making contact with the blades. Follow the electrician’s guidelines for Lawn mowing to ensure electrical safety.

Pond Pumps

Some electricians may have incorrectly installed 230V electrical water pumps in garden ponds. This could have created a serious electric shock risk in or close to the pond, which results in injury or death. A qualified electrician will confirm that the risk of electric shock is higher when there is water around.

If you find any potentially dangerous errors with the electrical installation, switch off the water pump's electrical supply straight away and get the pump repaired by a competent electrician or electrical contractor.

Cables and Connectors

If any damage is found, your electricians will advice that you unplug the cable from the electrical supply immediately. The electrician will advise that you replace the damaged cable immediately. On an ongoing basis you should always take care not to damage cables and connectors for the ongoing electrical safety of all the users of the electrical equipment.

If an inline-connector is required this must be specifically connected to the flexible cable by a competent person such as an electrician. They must ensure that any incorrect connections are not being done, which might result in serious injury or death!

Your electrician will advice not to work on electrical equipment while it is plugged in. Do not remove a jam from the hedge trimmer blades while it is still on or try to take out grass cuttings from the lawn mower.

Extension Cable Unwinding

When in use by the electrical equipment, the extension cable that is coiled up can overheat, which will cause damage to the cable. This, as your electrician will confirm can cause a fire in extreme circumstances. Damage such as this may also provide a risk of electric shock, however if an electrician is consulted then injuries or fatalities could be avoided.

Electrician’s advise that an unwound cable is the most safe option and will reduce the risk of it overheating.

Wet conditions

Electricians are right when they say ‘do not use electrical equipment in the wet either when it is raining or when watering is going on’. Wet conditions increase the risk of serious injury compared to dry conditions. It is not only the electrical factors that are unsafe; you could easily fall over in the wet. Ground conditions may also be slippery in the wet, which increases the risk of an accident. Electrical equipment may also suffer damage in wet conditions.

Garden lighting Installations

If an electrician has poorly selected, installed or damaged a 230 V outdoor light there maybe an electrical safety risk. Garden lighting and other types of garden electrical installations should be completed by a part p registered electrician. See British standard BS 7671 - Requirements for Electrical Installations (IEE Wiring Regulations). This shows the national safety standards for electrical installation work in England & Wales. Similar requirements apply in Scotland.