Following the Governments recent announcement regarding the Coronavirus lockdown, the construction and manufacturing industry are encouraged to start operating again as long as they can provide and maintain social distancing and good hygiene.

Some of our clients have been in touch with us ahead of them returning to their workplace to make sure their building is ready for their return so whether that be relamping, carrying out remedial works following recent electrical testing or making sure they are still compliant with their buildings safety testing.

Where to start? – One area we really want clients to think about prior to their return, whether thats as soon as this week or in the coming months, is their emergency lighting.

If your emergency lighting hasn’t been tested recently then it should be before the premises reopens and staff return to an operational building. This then ensures the batteries are charged and all the emergency luminaries are going to work in an emergency as they will be how your staff will be able to evacuate safely from the building.

It’s important to remember that emergency lighting in a building also assists the emergency services such as The Fire Brigade to enter, carry out their important work and leave the building safely also.

Emergency Lighting Testing  – We are still able to go in and test your emergency lighting in your business premises even if you are not there as it is classed as essential maintenance. We just need access to be given and social distancing to be adhered to for the sake of our electricians and any staff that may be on site.

How can we help? – If you want to discuss if your building is ready prior to returning then why not get in touch with us. We can assist any businesses in St. Albans and surrounding areas not just the manufacturing and Construction industry, so please let us know if we can be of any assistance.

For now we hope everyone continues to stay safe!

What a week eh! I don’t think any of us could have prepared for what we are currently facing with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Like many businesses, big or small in St. Albans Fulcher Edwards Ltd have had to temporarily close our electrical services family business following Government Guidelines but also thinking of the health and wellbeing of our customers, electricians, wholesalers and all members of our team.

Like the rest of the country, this will be short lived but in the meantime we wanted to assure our customers that you can still contact us by calling us on 01923 616985 or email us at info@fulcheredwards.co.uk should you be in need of an emergency electrician in St Albans, London or Hertfordshire with any urgent queries.

We will still be contacting our customers whose fire alarm and emergency lighting we maintain as this is classed as essential maintenance works. If you have an emergency call out still please still call the emergency call out number on your fire alarm panel.

We hope it won’t be too long before we are back to normal and our electricians are back assisting you in your homes and businesses in and around St. Albans, but until then please keep safe and well, we will get through this! You may still see us update our Social Media platforms like our Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram during this is time and we will try and share any useful information on our blog.

For now take care and a big thank you to our wonderful NHS, from all the team at FE.

Well there goes another year and very quickly it did too! We are not going to lie though that 2019 was a tough year for Fulcher Edwards Ltd like many other small businesses. It came with way to many lows unfortunately, but we are hopeful that 2020 will be much better and with a lot less uncertainty surrounding the UK.

We can’t thank our customers enough for their instructions and support as they have really helped us to keep Fulcher Edwards going for another year. We have a loyal customer base and we really do believe that is because we offer a quality personable service as well as our accreditations such as NICEIC and Safecontractor.

If you are considering any electrical works or maintenance for your home or business this year then please support local businesses as by doing this you really are in most cases helping a family to pay their bills. Fulcher Edwards has been established since 1981 but at the end of the day it is still a family working very hard to keep it going.

Our electricians cover St. Albans, Watford, Radlett, Bushey, Hemel Hempstead and most of Hertfordshire and even London so please get in touch if you would like a free quotation. Our Contact Us form can be found on our blog or our website or if preferred you can call us on 01923 616985 or email info@fulcheredwards.co.uk

From all of us at Fulcher Edwards Ltd Happy New Year!

We would like to wish all our customers a safe and happy Christmas and make you aware of our shutdown period over the festive season.

Our office is closed from the afternoon of Monday 23rd December 2019 through to Thursday 2nd January 2020. Our office hours resume back to normal on Friday 3rd January 2020. Please note if you have works booked in over this period that they will still go ahead and one of our electricians will be with you as planned.

If we maintain your fire alarm system and you have an emergency call out over our shutdown period please call the emergency call out number on your fire alarm panel. Please leave a voicemail if no immediate answer and an electrician will call you back as soon as possible.

All enquiries will be responded to on our return on the 3rd January.

Traditional Christmas Tree lights lying on a wooden floor.

From all of us at Fulcher Edwards Ltd we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All homes have a fuse box, otherwise known as a consumer unit. It is our homes electrical hub as it controls and distributes the electricity around the home. Your fuse box is your first point of call if you need to turn your electricity off in an emergency. Or if the electricity in your house suddenly stops working.

We would hope that you all know where you fuse box is located, but how many of you understand what each switch does?

Understanding Your Fuse Box

At an initial glance you fuse box can look complicated. Therefore we hope the following explanations will help you feel more comfortable managing your fuse box, especially in an emergency.

1. The main switch: The main switch will enable you to instantly turn off your homes electrical supply. This will be the switch to flick off in the event of an emergency. However beware that if you have electric storage heaters you will have a separate fuse box for these. Therefore they will have their own main switch which you would also need to turn off to cut all electricity in your property.
2. Residual Current Device (RCD): The RCD is the main safety feature within your fuse box. RCDs are a sensitive switching device that quickly turn off electricity when danger arises to reduce the risk of death or serious injury. RCDs turn off electricity in a fraction of a second. Last year we did a blog about the importance of RCD protection, therefore you can read that blog post HERE to find out more.
3. Circuit Breakers: Circuit Breakers will automatically switch off a circuit if it detects a fault. By looking at your fuse box you would be able to see if a circuit breaker has ‘tripped’ as one or more of the switches would be flicked down. You can easily reset the switches yourself by flicking them back up, however its important to first identify the initial fault.
4. Fuses: Older fuse boxes may have fuse wiring in place of circuit breakers. Similarly to circuit breakers they switch off a circuit if a fault is detected. However it does this by the fuse wiring overheating and melting which then switches off the circuit.

The above photo shows a modern fuse box which I have labelled accordingly. As explained above, older fuse boxes would have fuse wiring in replace of circuit breakers. We recommend all family members have familirisation with the workings of the fuse box.

Older homes might still have a fuse box which dates back to the 1960s. This can be identified if there are cast iron switches, a wooden back, and fuses. We would highly recommend you get this updated to a modern fuse box.

If you would like further advice or think your fuse box needs updating, please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.

The Office for National Statistics recently confirmed that 60% of smokers wish they could give up. Therefore with New Years Resolutions into full swing, many people will be attempting to give up smoking this January.  Some people will go cold turkey, while others might use the alternative of e-cigarettes. Especially with Public Health England stating that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than regular cigarettes. However are they safe? Especially with reports emerging of them causing fires and injury.

Keeping Your E-Cigarette Safe

We fully support these tips and advice provided by Electrical Safety First:

1. Don’t leave your e-cigarette charging for a long period of time. According to e-cigarette manufacturers ‘blu’ it should only take 4 hours to fully charge. Overcharging the battery can result in damaging it.
2. Ensure the charger has the CE mark on it. The CE mark states that it complies with European Safety Standards.
3. Don’t leave your e-cigarette charging overnight or when you’re not in the house. As if any dangers occurred you would be unaware.
4. Keep your e-cigarette and batteries stored in a safe place. Any damage could result in them becoming unsafe to use.
5. Follow the manufacturers instructions carefully. You want to make sure you are using the correct charger voltage to eliminate potential danger.

We also suggest that you only buy genuine chargers, ideally from the manufacturer. Fires are more likely to be caused by fake chargers. Furthermore, they could cause internal damage to the e-cigarette. Making it more likely to explode and injure you in the process.

Electrical Safety First have created this video to highlight the dangers of e-cigarette chargers. You can watch it HERE.

If you have been a using a fake charger, then it would be a good idea to call a qualified and registered electrician to check if any damage has been caused. They’re likely to suggest an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) which will involve inspecting the wiring in your home to see if any damage has occurred. It is better to be safe than sorry as electrical fires can start unnoticed inside walls.

For any electrical assistance in your home or workplace, speak with your local registered electrician in London and electrician in Hertfordshire or please do not hesitate to contact us HERE.

With less than 2 weeks left of 2018 its hard to believe quite how quick this year has gone! Is it just me, or do the years seems to be going quicker? I always enjoy reflecting on the year and thankfully, its been a consistently good year for Fulcher Edwards! Therefore as this will be the final blog of the year, lets wrap up 2018 as well as share what you can expect from us in 2019!

Firstly, we are pleased to say we passed our BAFE, NICEIC, and SafeContractor audits for another year. Each year these audit accreditations really test us, however they’re well worth the effort! We are pleased to be able to put our name against the BAFE, NICEIC, and SafeContractor logos, as they underpin Fulcher Edwards core values. These accreditations give our new and existing customers that extra guarantee that we will always provide a high level of service.

Marketing is always a key focus for us each year, like every business! However this year we have particularly focused our efforts onto gaining local business. Due to redevelopment within Waterloo station we have had to relocate our offices to St Albans, Hertfordshire. Fulcher Edwards still predominantly works within London, however it would be great to extend our electrician services out to St Albans, Watford, and surrounding areas within Hertfordshire.  Many marketing letters have been sent, blog posts have been written, and social media posts created to promote Fulcher Edwards – electricians in London and Hertfordshire! This will carry on into 2019.

Each year you gain some, and you lose some. We have gained some great customers this year as well as maintain relationships with existing customers. On the other hand, we have unfortunately lost customers due to circumstances beyond their and our control. Sadly we also lost our office dog Mollie earlier this year. You may have seen Mollie on previous social media posts. The FE team greatly miss Mollies wagging tail in the office.

Fulcher Edwards charitable commitment program

Fulcher Edwards also focused its efforts onto fundraising this year. We hosted a Macmillan Cake Sale on our business park back in September and raised £172.65! We also made donations towards #jeansforgenes and will be making our annual donation towards the charity Debra. For the past few years we have decided to save money on buying/sending Christmas cards and instead donate that money to Debra each Christmas.

Looking into 2019, we are getting ourselves ready for the current biggest change in the electrical industry – the 18th edition regulations! We are also looking forward to welcoming a new engineer to the Fulcher Edwards team in January.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Fulcher Edwards team have their work Christmas party tonight. We’re looking forward to being wined and dined, and raising a glass to another good business year! We would like to say a big thank you to our new and existing customers for your continued support, as well as wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our doors will be closing at 12pm for Christmas today. They will not re-open until 9am Thursday 3rd January 2019. Please do not hesitate to contact us HERE for all your electrical needs in 2019.

We’re well and truly in the festive spirit here at Fulcher Edwards, your local, reliable and trustworthy electricians in London and Hertfordshire. As thoughts are now turning to decking our ‘halls’ with an array of decorations and lighting effects (and maybe some boughs of holly!). We are receiving many calls to help source and repair electrical problems in homes and businesses in London and Hertfordshire.

In the run up to Christmas we get a lot calls and find that in many of these cases, Christmas lighting has been installed incorrectly – with too much reliance on extension leads or adapters plugged into adapters.

Of course Christmas doesn’t need to turn into an electrical nightmare, and don’t forget all that electricity requires is a common sense approach. We thought we’d share with you some essential electrical safety tips to keep you and your family or business safe over the festive season.

Electrical Safety Tips

1) Always purchase Christmas lights from reputable sources. Many Christmas lights are sold second hand on nearly new websites and car boot sales. Buying second hand means you don’t know if the item is safe to use or even if it works or not. Christmas lights don’t need to cost a fortune but they do need to meet minimum electrical safety standards.

2) Use an RCD – if your home does not have an RCD installed already, it makes sense to use an RCD plug for your Christmas lights. It will immediately cut the electrical supply if there is a problem with the lights. If you are installing lights outside, ensure that they are suitable for outdoor use- the products will tell you whether they’re suitable for outdoor use or not. Don’t ever be tempted to use extension leads designed for indoor use outside. All electrical outdoor lighting should be connected to an outdoor socket.

3) If you need additional sockets either indoors or outdoors, consult a Part P registered electrician in London or Hertforshire. Don’t try to do this work yourself. There are more fires this time of year due to unsafe Christmas lighting than at any other time of year.

4) Always follow the manufacturers instructions on how to use the electrical lighting safely.

5) Think about where you are going to install your lighting – keep out of the reach of children – particularly electrical sockets and lighting on trees. A curious toddler will like nothing more than tipping your Christmas tree over to study the lights! Never situate your lights in the way of pathways, and ponds.

6) Select Christmas lighting with low voltage bulbs. Most modern Christmas lights are low voltage which means they won’t heat up with continued usage. If you own a set of old fashioned bulbs, now is the time to replace them.

Lastly, don’t forget to check your lights work before hanging them up! Also take care on any ladders.

We cant promise to arrive in a one-horse open sleigh, but please do not hesitate to contact us HERE for any assistance with your electrical needs this Xmas.

Responsibility to fire safety doesn’t just end once you have had a  fire alarm fitted on your premises. If you are a Business Owner or Landlord in London or Hertfordshire, it is also your duty to make sure the fire alarm system is being maintained correctly.

The Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (FSO) states that the ‘responsible person’ has the duty of maintaining the fire alarm on your premises. The FSO is the primary legislation for all non-domestic premises in England and Wales. Therefore failure to comply with the FSO is an offence punishable by hefty fines or imprisonment.

A non-domestic premise includes workplaces and commercial premises, public premises, and common areas of multi-occupied residential buildings.

Who is the Responsible Person?

You’re if the responsible person if the following applies:

• You’re the owner of a business
• An employer
• An occupier
• The Landlord of a premises
• You’re the Facilities Manager, Building Manager, Risk Assessor, or Managing Agent

You can have more than one responsible person on the premises and therefore those two people will have to work together.

What are the duties of the Responsible Person in my Company?

• Plan for a fire emergency
• Provide staff with information, training, and fire safety instructions
• Conduct a fire risk assessment and review it regularly
• Make staff and representatives aware of any risks which have been identified
• Ensure there are appropriate fire safety measures in place and then maintain them

How often should my fire alarm be tested?

We recommend that you test your fire alarm weekly and then keep record of the tests in a log book. Furthermore, British Standard 5839 recommends that your fire alarm is serviced every 6 months by a ‘competent person.’ If your premises is very large then quarterly might also be best.

Who is a competent person and do we need one?

A competent person is somebody who is fully trained and qualified to inspect your Fire Alarm. This is a service we can provide at Fulcher Edwards. As your chosen contractor we would be able to give you advice and provide relevant in-house training. We would also carry out a high level of fire alarm maintenance that your premises requires.

To discuss your fire alarm in London and Hertfordshire needs further, or for a free quotation, please contact us HERE.