Did you know writes Arnold Pindar that the week commencing 19 November was “Electrical Fire Safety Week 2018 – “Safer over Sixty-Five”? Electrical Safety First (ESF) has developed guidance for older people and their relatives for electrical safety in the home. You can read about it on the BSI site.
ESF reports that around 350,000 people are seriously injured and 70 people are killed every year because of an electrical accident in the home. In addition, electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires a year. Obviously older or vulnerable people can be more at risk because they may live in old or poor quality housing with old or possibly faulty appliances.
Confessions
Being over 65, I found a few things that I should be doing myself. I’m probably as guilty as anyone in not paying enough attention to any deterioration in the products, cabling and connections. Indeed, recently I trod on a four-socket extension cable and the socket box shattered, no doubt as the plasticiser in the plastic casing had been lost. Luckily it was not connected to the mains.
Guidance Highlights
The ESF guidance highlights the importance of checking all aspects of the electrics in your home as well as giving advice on a number of matters including kitchen and bathroom safety, safety outdoors and recalled and counterfeit products.
Over the next two to three years, the National Consumer Federation is planning to focus on issues for consumer protection arising in “the home”. This Electrical Safety First initiative focuses on an important aspect of safety in the home.