Common Faults

This page illustrates problems that our engineers have encountered while performing tests. Without corrective action these problems would pose a serious risk to the safety of employees.

	There are two faults here. The first is the cracked plug top. This may come off leaving live connections exposed. The second is the plug is of a very old design without insulation on the live and neutral pins. This must be replaced immediately.
	The old style plugs are dangerous because it is possible to touch the live pin whilst the appliance is being plugged in. A potentially lethal electric shock is possible.
	It is not possible to touch the live pin on the new style plugs as the appliance is plugged in.
	Another common example of damage seen regularly by our engineers.
	Here the cable clamp is incorrectly gripping the live and neutral wires and not the outer insulation as it should be.
	Here is a correctly clamped and wired plug.
	Here you can see damage to the neutral wire and the outer cable insulation going right through to the live insulation. This is obviously a serious shock hazard.
	Here the damage is not as serious but still requires a repair to be carried out immediately.
	While the plug in this photo is correctly wired the fuse fitted is rated at 13 amps. As the plug is connected to a table lamp the correct fuse would be one rated at 3 amps.