Do you know how safe your electrical products are?

During Register My Appliance Week 26-30 April, Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service is reminding households to look around their homes and register more than 100 million older unregistered appliances.

Recent government research[1] has revealed 49% of people have never registered products and domestic appliances used in essential tasks such as cooking, refrigerating food, washing laundry and dishes, and vacuuming.

By registering machines at registermyappliance.org.uk people can ensure all their home appliances, particularly older and previously forgotten ones, can be located if a safety repair is ever needed. Nearly 60 leading brands are represented on the portal, developed by the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA), with most makes welcoming details of products up to 12 years old.

Station Manager Steve Ratcliffe said: “In 2020 Derbyshire attended 68 fires caused by electrical appliances, and whilst not all of these could have been avoided, making sure your appliance is registered will certainly reduce your risk.

“Registering your appliance means you’ll be notified if there’s ever a product recall that may affect its safety, ensuring you never use a product that may cause fire.  

“It is also vital that any product is installed and used according to the instructions to minimise the risk of an accident happening.

“If you think there may be a problem with an electrical appliance that you own, always unplug it and contact the manufacturer or a qualified appliance repair technician.”

The majority of products in your home will be safe, but it’s important to regularly check to ensure none of your household appliances are subject to a recall, and to ensure white goods are not positioned in escape routes, so if they do catch fire they won't block your way out of the property.