The Electrical Safety Roundtable (ESR), a group which brings together senior industry executives with an interest in promoting electrical safety, is hosting fringe events at this yearʼs Labour and Conservative political party conferences to explore public attitudes towards safety in the home and help develop solutions to ensure renters and homeowners across Britain avoid unnecessary risks.

The ‘Safer Homes; Safer Britain’ events will seek to highlight and debate the importance and practicalities of introducing regular, mandatory home electrical safety checks and requirements for carbon monoxide and fire detection alarms in domestic premises. They will also explore whether there are other elements of home safety where current requirements could be improved.

Commenting on the ESRʼs participation in this yearʼs fringe events, Chairman Chris Bielby MBE said: Failure to pick up on dangerous electrical work and the absence of appropriate early warning devices in British homes can and does cost lives each year. This is something that could be addressed by improving current regulatory requirements, especially in the private rented sector where a tenant should be entitled to expect a safe home that is regularly checked. Making electrical safety checks along with the installation of CO and fire detection alarms mandatory across Britain could have a real and lasting impact on safety in the home, and I look forward to discussing the possibility of introducing such requirements with MPs and industry stakeholders in attendance at the Safer Homes; Safer Britain events.

The Labour conference fringe event will be held on 23 September at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, and the panel will consist of MP and Co-Chair of the All Party Home Safety Group, Barry Sheerman and representatives from: the housing charity, Shelter; Competent Person Scheme Operator, NAPIT; safety charity, Electrical Safety First; and the Chief Fire Officers Association.

The Conservative party conference fringe event will take place on 30th September at the ICC Birmingham, and will feature speeches from Peter Aldous MP, Shelter, NAPIT and Electrical Safety First, followed by a question and answer session.

Both events are inside the secure zone, so conference passes will be needed to attend. For more information about the events, speaker line-ups and the Electrical Safety Roundtable please visit: www.electricalsafetyroundtable.co.uk or email info@electricalsafetyroundtable.co.uk