Managing electrical supplies safely

Few will doubt that electrical supplies in healthcare premises need to be designed and maintained to standards exceeding those encountered in domestic premises. Alongside the need to ensure continuity of electrical supplies--hence the importance of properly maintained emergency standby generators to ensure that vital medical electrical (ME) equipment and building services systems can operate without interruption--patients may be particularly vulnerable to electrical hazards during medical procedures, due to the attachment to the skin of applied parts of ME equipment, and/or their introduction into the body. Here Al Rufaie, BSc CEng MIET FIHEEM, who has 40 years' electrical industry experience, including over 10 years at the Department of Health providing electrical technology and safety guidance to the NHS, covers these elements, and details the patient protection requirements and various classifications of medical locations.