Can this really be true?

[manatbandq]

Or are people just stupid in the Midlands:

The need for professional electrical contractors to carry out work around the house was highlighted by a survey indicating that 60 per cent of homeowners in the Midlands have suffered electric shocks.

Respondents answered that while poor wiring in electrical appliances were to blame for many of the shocks, a lack of electrical skills also played a part.

Nearly one in six people reported getting an unpleasant and dangerous current running through their body after blundering through a DIY job.

But the survey also revealed sheer stupidity or ignorance played a part too, with one in ten saying they had had a shock when they took a knife or fork to pry bread from their toasters.

David Pollock, ECA director, told the Nottingham Evening Post: "One of the most alarming things about this study is that it demonstrates how many of the basic lessons we learn about electricity when young are simply being forgotten."

MBQ

[Robin]

My first thought "was this study carried out by Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) or were they just commenting on it?" Looking for an answer I found Ealing Times was told "MORE than 80 per cent of Londoners have had an electric shock in their own home."

Ealing Times also revealed "These shocking figures come as part of the Smart with Sparks campaign, run by the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA), aimed at highlighting electrical dangers in the home." So I'd really like to know (i) the questions asked and (ii) who carried out the survey. Oddly no such details are on the ECA website. Indeed, I cannot even find a press release.

[EricP]

Just another outbreak of tub thumping by those who would like the force of Law to cover professional supervision of complicated matters like putting a new fuse in a plug and such.

[geoff]

In message , Robin writes

Bet you can't find anyone who took part in the survey either

[Brian Sharrock]

And the soon to be announced; - Removal of Burnt toast (operative mandatory training) Regulations. The 'elf-n-safe-tea' council will ensure that only appropriately trained and licensed operatives will be permitted to remove toast from toasters utilising non-conductive implements ; rubber gloves and boots while standing on duckboards. It will become an indictable offence for a home-owner to attempt to remove toast from a toaster without the pre-submission of a Building Notice. During the forty~eighty hours that a Council will have to authorise such an operation , any requirement of the house-holder for ingestion of toast must be met from an authorised take-a-way restaurant.

[Peter Parry]

Don't be so doubting. I'm sure at least 10 members of the ECA took part.

[Robin]

I am very willing to believe the survey was of members of the public chosen at random.

Consider, for example, a question on the lines of"

"(a) Have you ever used cutlery to get slice out of an electric toaster while it was switched on? (b) If so, did you get a shock?"

If (b) is then expressed as a percentage of (a) .........

Similarly, "a fifth of the people surveyed admitted to chopping through electric cables in a DIY mishap" says nothing about the number who chopped through *live* cables. Or the number who had chopped through lawnmower, hedge trimmer etc cables.

(I am not a statistician but I know a little about how to misuse them.)

[robgraham]

Oh but come on, are you really telling me that as competent electricians that we all are, we've never had a shock ? Do electricians never get a shock ? That's like saying that wood workers, professional and otherwise, never damage their fingers in circular saws or planers, which we all know is rubbish.

So of course the statistic is probably correct - I am not a professional electrician but I am definitely competent and I would be the first to admit that in forty plus years of wiring ( and actually I was helping my Dad when I was in my teens, so that is 50 years) I've had a belt or two. The difference I would claim is that I was in the position of expecting it - or at least I was not caught unawares by it, so was not in a situation that it did me any damage.

I think you're hiding your heads in the sand, guys. What the survey didn't do was to examine how these people got a shock (OK exclude for the moment the idiots who stick forks into switched on toasters !). I would have to answer 'Yes' to the simple question, but the caveat would be that the belt was probably due to a bit of momentary stupidness, and not due to poorly installed wiring which is what the underlying topic of this this thread is.

Rob

Rob

[Chris Hodges]

I've had a few mains shocks - none from fixed wiring.

(FWIW 1 dodgy record player - internal insulation falling to bits, 1 my fault for telling someone else to turn off the lamp with a jammed bulb that was plugged in in another room and 1 laser that put the mains through the interlock connector - the paperclip I was using to short it got pretty hot as well!).

[meow2222]

The mean age of UK humans is around 40 years, meaning half of us were around 40 years ago and longer. Some of us were around a century ago. So any shock figures cover installations covering the whole of the 20th century. 1 in 6 is not thus surprising imho.

However, a) it has little to do with the state of present installs b) its mostly from appliances and darwinism c) it does not imply lots of deaths, as they would wish people to think d) it does look like blatant proaganda

NT

[zaax]

Have started to refit my house (23 yo) new kitchen etc. The state of the wiring, I wonder on ECA standards.

[clot]

>>>>> The Ealing Times also revealed "These shocking figures come as part

Blast, I missed that one. I usually keep my ear close to the ground. This is on top of The Flood Prevention Statutory Instrument SI 1066/2007 requiring all operatives of taps and plugs to be certified?

[Martin Pentreath]

One in six seems remarkably low to me. I've lost count of the number of shocks I've had over the years through various acts of blithering stupidity. And I'm not from the Midlands.

[John Rumm]

May have an influence on the seriousness of the shock...

Mostly yes. But there are times you can get caught unexpectedly even when you know what you are doing.

Getting a minor shock from a separate earth wire in an old property springs to mind. It turned out it was acting as a very long and poorly connected potentiometer with 240V at one end (due to failure of rubber insulation in a conduit) and something approaching earth at the other. The back of my hand made contact with it while rooting about in a floor void. I noticed a strong tingle, and it left a small stripe across the back of my hand. It had about 100V on it at the point of contact.

They probably got relatively few answers from this category! ;-)

Certainly does.

[Matty F]

I blame these new-fangled popup toasters. In the beginning the bread never used to get stuck in the toaster, and everything was very safe. Here's our toaster (I photographed it today just for you lot!):

[Cicero]

[Matty F]

Nasty damn things those - I got a couple of electric shocks off one the other day, even though the main breaker was off.

[zikkimalambo]

Wow, that's the first cordless toaster i've seen! Where can I get one?

[Andy Hall]

[Cicero]

down-market version for use on coal and wood fires. Third from left / top row was much-favoured because it had a telescopic handle: