Stay Safe Whilst Travelling

When travelling or on holiday abroad, the last thing you will probably think about is electrical safety, but it is something that you should always be thinking about, sometimes even more so abroad. The UK has a much higher safety standard than a lot of other countries and so you must be vigilant when using electrical products overseas.

Stay safe by following these rules:

• Always check the voltage of your appliance against the socket: electricity supplies across the world can vary from 100 volts all the way up to 240 volts. So if your appliance is not compatible with the foreign supply, don’t use it!
• Never plug anything into a plug that looks damaged, cracked or has the cover or part of the cover missing.
• Never touch light switches if they show any signs of damage.
• Never touch any electrical equipment with wet hands.
• Never use any mains-powered electrical equipment in the bathroom.
• Check cables for any sign of wear and tear or damage. You shouldn’t see any joints, repairs, cuts, nicks or any damage anywhere on any cables. If there are, don’t use it!
• Make sure the travel adaptor you are using is correct for the country you are in, and never force it into a socket if it does not easily fit.
• If you are camping, you should always check if there is a Residual Current Device (RCD) protection or something similar that will cut the power if there is a fault.
• Never ignore burning smells, sounds of arching (buzzing and crackling), fuses blowing or scorch marks on plugs and sockets.

Things you should do before you leave:

• Consider buying your travel adaptors whilst still in the UK as a lot of products overseas will not meet our safety standards.
• Find out about the types of sockets
• Think about the appliances you intend to take and whether you will need travel adapters or voltage converters and what their power rating should be.

 If you want to know a little more about travel adaptors, you check out Electrical Safety First’s guide to Travel Adaptors.

 Using appliances in the UK and bringing appliances back:

To use your appliances abroad should generally be safe to do so, however, you should always be safe when thinking about the voltage of your appliance and the allowance of the socket. Also, think about the type of socket and the frequency of the electricity supply where you are, because if any of these aren’t compatible then it could be dangerous for you.

If you are travelling to Europe you just need to worry about the type of socket as the voltage and the frequency is the same as the UK. If you are travelling out of Europe, you may need to think about a voltage transformer or converter. Both a converter and a transformer increase the voltage to match that of countries where the voltage is 100-127 v and the power supply is not dual voltage related. So, if you are worried about travelling to a country outside of Europe, you should look into these and see if you may need one before you leave!

In regards to bringing any electrical products back with you, we don’t usually recommend it as we have higher safety standards than many other countries, so they may not be as safe as something you would buy from here. You also have the added risk factor of them not being compatible with our electricity supplies and sockets here, so it’s always best to not bring them back with you.

If you need any help or advice about electrical items and electricity in the different countries you are travelling to, call the experts at your local Mr. Electric!

Post Source: Electrical Safety First