Toddler killed by cut off plug

[Owain]

toddler died after playing with a plug left with exposed wires, a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) has heard... The hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court was told his mother Claire Hughes found him after it is alleged a handyman left the plug when fitting a new oven. ... The inquiry was told she recalled seeing a plug on a couch before the workmen left but did not realise that wires were exposed and did not see Liam handling it. Mr Rough, a retired handyman who has no formal qualifications in electrical work, told the inquiry he left the plug lying on the floor beside the old oven but did not put it on a couch. He said the cable on the new oven was too short so he disconnected the plug in the living room, and left it lying beside the old oven.

[The BBC also has the sub-head "Fuse bypassed"]

'Fuse bypassed'

The inquiry also heard from specialist health and safety inspector John Madden, who said it was likely that the child had grabbed the exposed live and neutral wires.

The inspector told the inquiry that this meant that the fuse in the plug never blew and stopped the current from passing to Liam.

[Not sure how that "bypassed" the fuse.]

Owain

[Graham.]

I would say it's almost for certian that the expert was explaining to the court why a person finding himself across L & N will not be saved by an RCD.

The Jornalist had no concept of what an RCD was and winged it with the only safety device he new about, the "fuse in the plug"

[John Rumm]

Probably conflating issues - if he chopped the plug off and then wired the flex into something permanent that was not a FCU, it may have bypassed the fuse. However that would only be a factor affecting protection of the oven's flex and nothing to do with the toddler - although this is perhaps something the prosecution might bring into the discussion to question the competence of the handyman, and attempt to associate blame even if it was not in reality a contributing factor in the accident?

If you assume it was a mounded on plug, then it was probably cut off. That does not usually leave any length of wire exposed, so contact would probably be with one hand on the end of the flex - it would be difficult to get a L to N shock across both arms from this source unless carefully poking both thumbs into the cut end. More likely it was a single hand contact with live, and enough earth reference elsewhere through the body[1] to pass a lethal current.

Anyone want to take bets on the house having an RCD?

[1] Both hands on a metal faced socket would do it.

[Chris Hogg]

I don't understand (nothing new there then!). Ovens don't normally have plugs. OK, so it was probably a small portable or microwave oven that plugged into a 13 amp socket. If you cut off the plug from a portable oven, you only get the possibility exposed live wires if the plug is put back in the socket. But it was left on the floor or on the couch, apparently. So how did the toddler get electrocuted?

[Robin]

Sad. And sad too that NICEIC etc will no doubt use this[1] in their further lobbying of DCLG to argue the Building Regulations should require any and all electrical work in the home to be carried out by a member of a competent person scheme.

Which leads to my real reason for waving: does anyone know if DCLG are doing anything following "Future changes to the Building Regulations - next steps" in December 2010 to get further views from domestic consumers (including DIY-ers) in addition to the usual suspects (Electrical Safety Council, NICEIC, NAPIT, CBI, BCC etc)? (I have yet to find an avenue similar to the Your Freedom or Cut Red Tape websites. So it seems NICEIT etc have a free run to pour poison into DCLG ears.)

[1] I know this death was in Scotland but that'll not stop them

[A.Lee]

It is common for built-in ovens to have a plug. Some come with bare connectors on the oven, with no flex, others have a

13a plug already fitted. Typical usage is 2.6kW, so a 13A plug outlet is fine.

Alan.

[ARWadsworth]

Words like "fuse bypassed" do not help with the story. Also there is reference to a cable that was left. It would seem possible that the workman had removed all the flex from the cooker and reused the old flex.

[Onetap]

I've no idea what did happen.

When one of my kids was a toddler, he picked up an unplugged plug, the sort of 2 pin, figure-of-8 type thing that goes in the back of printers and camera chargers. The other end of the cable was plugged into the 3-pin wall socket. Being a toddler, the 2-pin figure-of-8 type plug was heading for his mouth to be sucked.

I moved 5 yards and aged 20 years in a few milliseconds.

A small oversight, easily done.

[Onetap]

Maybe something similar; a kettle-type power lead, unplugged from the appliance but the cable left plugged into a wall socket.

[Tim Streater]

I had to move as rapidly in a Geneva restaurant once. The door was open

- one of those posh doors hinged at ceiling and floor level, but in such a way as to leave a gap of a few inches on the hinge edge when open, the gap shrinking to zero as the door closes. The kid had its hand in the gap and the door was closing ...

[Skipweasel]

When I salvage plugs from old gear (or whole flexes, if it's moulded on) I either pull the cable out with a sharp tug, or for moulded ones take the fuse out. For exactly this reason.

[Skipweasel]

Did something similar in the "departure lounge" at Calais docks. Howling gale and unrestrained large door with unrestrained small boy. Not a word of thanks from the parents, who didn't seem to appreciate the danger of a 50kg door slamming on their kid's fingers.

[Tim Streater]

Typical. In my case the parents carried on scoffing and gassing blissfully unaware.

[Doctor Drivel]

An RCD would have saved the child.

[Andy Dingley]

My Dad was a hoarder of old cables, still with plugs. These would be left all over the workbench, mixed in with cables to power drills etc.

He was also incapable of filling a mower etc. and ever putting the cap back on a can of petrol.

[Andy Dingley]

For an L-N fault?

[tim....]

Maybe something similar; a kettle-type power lead, unplugged from the appliance but the cable left plugged into a wall socket.

But such plugs don't have "exposed wires" as claimed in the article.

tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

He did what mummy did, put a plug into a socket..

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hmm. It was a southern region train, and the child was me.

Christ it hurt.

[Jules Richardson]

Exactly the same thing happened to a friend's girl at a hotel here last year - she saw it coming and tried to get her hand out, but the closing door still caught the end of one finger in there and tore the entire tip right off the bone.

Rushed off to hospital immediately, of course, but then the father had to go back and retrieve the fingertip from the door - amazingly, the doctors were still able to reattach it.

cheers

Jules