Education
Schools and trusts
Buildings full of children every day, with metal furniture and fencing on the same earthing.
In short
What is electrical safety monitoring?
Electrical safety monitoring is a continuous watch on a building's incoming supply and distribution boards that raises the alarm when the neutral is lost, earthed metalwork goes live or voltage runs out of range. It covers the days between periodic inspections, which show an installation only on the day it is tested.
- Continuous watch at the incoming supply and each distribution board
- Alarms by text, email and building management system
- Chosen circuits switched off automatically or remotely
- A fire alarm link where you want one
- One view across every building in a portfolio
- A record of every alert and the response, for your safety file
The challenge
What does a periodic inspection miss?
It shows the condition of your installation on the day it is tested. It does not watch the supply that feeds it.
On a common type of supply known as PME, one network conductor serves as both neutral and earth. If it breaks, the IET records that up to 230 volts can appear on earthed metalwork and up to 400 volts can reach single-phase equipment built for 230. The fault starts on the network side of the meter, after the engineer has gone.
The Wiring Regulations already require dedicated protection against this fault where people charge cars outdoors. Across the rest of a building, nothing requires it, and across a portfolio nobody is watching every building's supply at once.
When the building's electrical distribution does fail, the cost is not small. The Home Office puts the marginal economic and social cost of a single fire in a non-domestic building at 124,200 pounds.
How it works
How does continuous electrical safety monitoring work?
A watch at each building's intake and distribution boards raises the alarm the moment the supply turns unsafe, and one accountable party owns what happens next.
When the neutral is lost, the shared neutral and earth conductor breaks, bonded metalwork picks up voltage or the supply runs out of range, the alarm goes by text and email and to your building management system. Every building reports into one view, so an estates team sees the whole portfolio in one place.
Chosen circuits can be switched off automatically or remotely, and the fire alarm can be linked in, to a design agreed with you for each building. We answer for the response: alarm handling, the people in the building, and getting the network operator out to repair the conductor. Every alert and action is recorded for your safety file.
What you get
Visibility every day, across every building
Risk
Faults seen as they happen
A lost neutral or live metalwork known the moment it arrives, not at the next inspection.
Obligation
Inspections left as they are
Your periodic inspection and contractor stay in place. The watch covers the days in between.
Obligation
A record you can show
Every alert and the response on record for your safety file, your insurer and anyone who inspects you.
Cost
One view, one owner
Every building's supply in one place, with one accountable party for the response rather than a contractor per site.
Evidence
What the evidence shows about the hazard
These figures describe the hazard and its cost, from the IET and the Home Office. They are not our results.
17%Of fires in non-domestic buildings in England started in electrical distribution, the largest identified source of ignition, year to March 2026 (Home Office)
230 VCan appear on earthed metalwork when the network's shared neutral and earth conductor breaks (IET, Wiring Matters, March 2021)
£124,200Marginal economic and social cost of a single fire in a non-domestic building in England (Home Office, published 2023, on 2019/20 data)
Where it applies
Estates that benefit most
Compliance
The compliance you carry
The UK environmental and safety duties that commonly reach electrical safety monitoring. Open any one for what it requires, the deadlines, what is at stake, and how to evidence control. Every entry is sourced.
PRS electricalObligationRiskElectrical safety standards in private rented homes (England Regulations 2020)
What you must doHave the electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years, and act on what the inspection finds.
Applies toPrivate landlords letting homes in England.
When it bitesThroughout every tenancy, with the installation inspected and tested at least every five years.
DeadlinesIn force 1 June 2020; new tenancies from 1 July 2020; existing tenancies from 1 April 2021
What is at stakeA local authority may impose a financial penalty of up to GBP 30,000 per breach.
How to evidence itA current inspection report for each home and a record of any remedial work completed.
Legal basisElectrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/312). Issued by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; enforced by local housing authorities.
Keep watch on the supply between inspections, so a fault that arrives after the test is known the day it happens.
Social rented electricalObligationRiskElectrical safety in social rented homes (England, SI 2025/1043)
What you must doInspect and test installations before a tenancy and at regular intervals, check provided electrical equipment at intervals of no more than five years, put unsafe equipment right within 28 days, and keep and supply the records.
Applies toRegistered providers of social housing in England.
When it bitesBefore each tenancy and at regular intervals throughout it.
DeadlinesIn force 1 November 2025; from 1 May 2026 for tenancies granted before 1 December 2025
What is at stakeNo penalty figure for the social rented extension was confirmed in our review; compliance is also assessed against the Regulator of Social Housing consumer standards.
How to evidence itInspection reports, equipment check records and remedial records held for each property.
Legal basisElectrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) (Amendment) (Extension to the Social Rented Sector) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1043). Issued by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Add a continuous watch on each block's supply to the inspection programme, with every event recorded against the building.
Awaab's LawObligationRiskAwaab's Law Phase 2: electrical hazards in social homes
What you must doInvestigate and make safe an emergency hazard within 24 hours. Investigate a significant hazard within 10 working days and complete safety work within 5 working days of the investigation concluding. It is a duty to act once aware, not a duty to monitor.
Applies toSocial landlords in England.
When it bitesFrom 30 November 2026, once the landlord is aware of a hazard presenting a significant risk of harm, including electrical hazards and fire and explosions.
DeadlinesIn force 30 November 2026
What is at stakeNo fine figure confirmed in our review; the duties are enforceable by tenants and sit alongside the regulator's consumer standards.
How to evidence itA record of when each hazard became known, the investigation, and the safety work, measured against the statutory timescales.
Legal basisHazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Issued by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
An alarm makes you aware sooner, and we build the out-of-hours response so the hazard is being made safe as soon as the clock starts.
EAWRObligationRiskElectricity at Work Regulations 1989 (duty holders)
What you must doComply with the Regulations in so far as they relate to matters within your control; employees must co-operate. A network fault is outside your control, but its effects inside your building are not.
Applies toEvery employer and self-employed person, for electrical systems within their control, in any workplace from a school or care home to a hotel or office.
When it bitesContinuously, wherever people work with or near an electrical system you control.
DeadlinesOngoing (continuous duty)
What is at stakeEnforced by the HSE under health and safety law.
How to evidence itClear responsibility for each installation, current inspection and maintenance records, and a record of how supply faults are handled.
Legal basisElectricity at Work Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/635), regulation 3. Issued by Health and Safety Executive.
Know the moment the supply to a building you are responsible for turns unsafe, and have one party own the response.
BS 7671 722ObligationRiskPEN fault protection for outdoor EV charging (BS 7671 regulation 722.411.4.1)
What you must doProvide protection against the touch voltage an open PEN conductor can cause, by a device that disconnects the live and protective conductors, or by an earth electrode arrangement.
Applies toElectric vehicle charge points located outdoors, or likely to charge a vehicle outdoors, on a PME (TN-C-S) supply.
When it bitesOn installing a charge point in that situation.
DeadlinesRequired since Amendment 1 (2020) and retained since; Amendment 4 is reported to become the only current version on 15 October 2026
What is at stakeA British Standard rather than a statute; it is the reference used to show an installation meets the statutory duties.
How to evidence itThe installation certificate recording the protective measure used.
Legal basisBS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations, regulation 722.411.4.1; product standard IET 01:2024 for open-PEN detection devices. Issued by IET and BSI.
The same fault the Wiring Regulations guard against at the car charger can reach every other circuit in the building. We watch the whole supply.
Before you commit
What this is, and what it is not
Here is the position plainly.
It does not replace your periodic inspection or your contractor, and on its own it does not make a building compliant with anything. It does not repair the network's conductor, which belongs to the network operator. It will not promise that no fault ever causes harm. It watches the supply continuously, raises the alarm, switches off what you have chosen and puts one party in charge of the response. Sites supplied at high voltage through their own transformers carry a different exposure, and the assessment will tell you so.
We start with one building and tell you plainly whether this fault can reach it.
Questions answered
How is this different from a periodic inspection?
A periodic inspection examines and tests your installation on one day. Continuous monitoring watches the supply every day in between, and raises the alarm when it turns unsafe. The two work together.
Is continuous electrical monitoring a legal requirement?
No building type is currently required by law to monitor its supply continuously. The Wiring Regulations require dedicated protection against a broken neutral for outdoor car charging only. Monitoring the rest of a building is part of taking reasonable steps for the people in it.
What does it detect?
A lost neutral, a break in the shared neutral and earth conductor on the network side, voltage on earthed and bonded metalwork, and a supply running outside its normal range.
Can it cover a whole estate?
Yes. Each building reports into one view, so an estates or building safety team can see every site's supply in one place and respond from there.
Does it replace our electrical contractor?
No. Your contractor and your inspection programme stay exactly as they are. We add the continuous watch and own the response to a supply fault, alongside them.
Start with one building
Tell us which building in your estate concerns you most. We will assess how it is supplied and what continuous monitoring and response would look like there, before you commit.
Speak to the Team
Tell us your challenge
Tell us the cost, the risk or the obligation you are facing. A senior member of our team will respond, in confidence, with how we would help.
Every enquiry is handled in strict confidence.