Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)

Authority

Official guidance

Territories

GB

Primacy

primary

Commercial interest

none

Retrieved

2026-08-21

State

Read and citable

Original document

Two domains in one document. ELECTRICAL: an RCD for electrically-powered equipment; check for worn or frayed cables, broken parts or signs equipment has got wet, before use; never use electrical equipment in wet conditions; switch off and unplug before cleaning, adjusting or checking. BARBECUE: keep barbecues away from fences, sheds and plants; supervise at all times and keep water close by; 'Never pour petrol, paraffin or meths onto the fire, use firelighters'; allow coals and embers to cool completely before disposal; the ground under fires and disposable barbecues can stay hot for some time after the fire has gone out; and never use barbecues inside or bring them indoors while cooling.

Safety, Technical

• Explicitly not culinary practice: An accident-prevention charity is an authority on how people get hurt in gardens, not on how meat is cooked. It says nothing about doneness, timing or method and must not be cited as if it did.

• “Use a residual current device (RCD) for electrically-powered equipment to protect against the risks of electrocution ... Check for any damage before you use, like worn or frayed cables, broken parts or signs equipment has got wet ... Never use electrical equipment in wet conditions ... Switch off and unplug electrical items before cleaning, adjusting or checking them.”

  RoSPA instructs the use of a residual current device for electrically-powered garden equipment to protect against electrocution, requires equipment to be checked before use for worn or frayed cables, broken parts or signs it has got wet, states that electrical equipment must never be used in wet conditions, and requires items to be switched off and unplugged before cleaning, adjusting or checking them.

  A second publisher, not a restatement. RoSPA reaches the same advice as Electrical Safety First from an accident-prevention remit rather than an electrical one, and neither cites the other. The count should read two, because there are two.

  The unplug-before-adjusting instruction is the one that bites on a cooker. Clearing a probe, moving a chip tray or wiping an element are all 'adjusting', and all of them are done mid-cook with the appliance live.

• “Never pour petrol, paraffin or meths onto the fire, use firelighters”

  RoSPA instructs that petrol, paraffin and methylated spirits must never be poured onto a fire, and directs the use of firelighters instead.

  The sentence the accessory layer needed. a chimney starter is the thing somebody reaches for instead of an accelerant, and a page recommending one should be able to say what it is instead OF from a source rather than from folklore. Weber describes the chimney and has a chimney to sell; RoSPA states the prohibition and sells nothing.

  Three substances, named. Recorded as named rather than generalised to 'accelerants', because the generalisation is BBQHQ's and the list is RoSPA's.

• “Be aware that the ground under fires and disposable barbecues can stay hot for some time after the fire has gone out ... Allow coals and embers to cool completely before disposal ... Keep barbecues, patio heaters and bonfires away from fences, sheds and plants ... Supervise barbecues and fires at all times and keep water close by”

  RoSPA states that the ground beneath fires and disposable barbecues can stay hot for some time after the fire has gone out, requires coals and embers to be allowed to cool completely before disposal, and requires barbecues to be kept away from fences, sheds and plants and supervised at all times with water kept close by.

  The heat left IN THE GROUND is the part London Fire Brigade's siting guidance does not cover, and it is the mechanism behind scorched lawns, melted decking and the burns children get on a beach hours later.

  The siting and supervision advice restates what UK fire authorities already publish and BBQHQ already holds. Recorded so the corroboration is visible, not as a new rule.

• “Never use barbecues or patio heaters inside, and do not bring them indoors while they're cooling, as this can cause a fire or carbon monoxide exposure”

  RoSPA instructs that barbecues and patio heaters must never be used inside and must not be brought indoors while they are cooling, and gives fire and carbon-monoxide exposure as the two reasons.

  The cooling clause is the new part. BBQHQ has always held 'never indoors' from several authorities. None of them addressed the barbecue that is finished with, still warm, and put in the garage or the porch out of the rain — which is the disposal habit that kills people, because a cooling firebox is still producing carbon monoxide.

• In the UK, mains-powered equipment used outdoors should be protected by a residual current device, and a plug-in RCD should be used where the fusebox does not have one built in.
• In the UK, mains-powered equipment should not be used outdoors while the ground or the equipment is wet, and the stated threshold is dew rather than rain.
• In the UK, extension leads, cable reels and connectors used outdoors should be ones rated for outdoor use, checked for damage before use and fully uncoiled, and cable reels should have a thermal cut-out.
• In the UK, mains-powered equipment should be switched off and unplugged before it is cleaned, adjusted or checked.
• Petrol, paraffin and methylated spirits should never be poured onto a barbecue or fire; firelighters are the intended alternative.
• The ground beneath a fire or a disposable barbecue can stay hot for some time after the fire is out, and coals and embers should be allowed to cool completely before they are thrown away.
• A barbecue must not be brought indoors while it is cooling, as well as never being used indoors, because a cooling barbecue can still cause a fire or carbon-monoxide exposure.

If this source changes, these are the claims that need rechecking. That is the point of recording provenance per claim rather than per page.