Developing evidence to support risk assessments of electrical safety non-compliances during post-market surveillance

Descriptions

The Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) is part of the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with a mission to be a trusted product regulator for the UK. This means protecting people and places, enabling business to thrive and empowering consumers to make good choices. We will be a leader of good regulatory practice and a champion of local regulation. As part of our enforcement activities, OPSS conducts post market surveillance activities to assess the safety of products on the market. This includes testing products on the market, primarily against standards, to provide evidence to support a risk assessment which informs what enforcement action to take (see RAPEX tool https://ec.europa.eu/rag/#/screen/home). Electrical safety is a common type of non-compliance found in consumer products and can lead to hazards such as fire and electric shock. To enable OPSS to deliver regulation in a manner that is risk-based, proportionate and consistent, it is crucial to greater understand the risks presented by these products by strengthening our evidence on the hazards and risks posed by common electrical safety non-compliances. Evidence on the risk presented by electrical safety non-compliances is currently limited. This research project will develop a methodology for quantifying the risk posed by common electrical non-compliances and apply this methodology to provide evidence and guidance to inform product risk assessments during post market surveillance. This includes evidence to support the risk posed by the product non-compliance itself (e.g. electrical strength failing by 1kV), and consideration of other factors ranging from construction of the product and environment of use, through to the likelihood and efficacy of types of protection at a household level such as RCDs. The aim of the project is to develop evidence to support risk assessments of products with common electrical non-compliances and provide guidance to inform the application of this evidence. The project will have three main objectives: To identify common electrical non-compliances To develop and apply a methodology to provide evidence to support risks assessments of electrical products, focussing on common non-compliances and other factors that may influence safety To develop a guide for applying the findings which can be used by enforcement officers without electrical safety expertise. It is anticipated that this research would involve a literature review and some testing. Consultation with experts could also supplement findings. It is important to note that this research is not developing a risk assessment methodology. Instead, it is providing evidence which can support the existing risk assessment methodology, including a guide on applying this evidence. The output should be applicable to the broad range of electrical products within scope of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations.