Revised: 1 May 2012

 

Statistics

Electrical Safety Council Core Data Set

Note: this is a working document and subject to review. When more up to date information becomes available, this data set will be updated to reflect this.

 
 

Deaths, Injuries and Fires

1. Low voltage electrocutions and fatal electrical burns in GB from low voltage electricity supplies (2010 data) i

  • Total: 28
  • Work related electrocutions: six
  • Home or leisure electrocutions: 22

·         Northern Ireland – Average of 1 electrical fatality per year ii

2. Electric shocks iii:

  • People receiving a mains voltage electric shock per year (15+): 2.5 million*
  • Of whom received a serious injury: 350,000**

3. Number of fires of electrical origin in GB in 2011/12 iv :

2011/12

All accidental domestic fires

Accidental domestic fires of electrical origin                 

 

  In depth

 

 

Faults

Misuse

Articles too close to heat

 

Total

Products

Installations

Deaths

244

25

11

10

46

38

8

Injuries

5956

799

1,392

278

2469

2302

167

Fires

37601

7,763

10,735

1,905

20403

17,932

2,471


4. Major products involved in electrical fires in 2011/12 v:


2011/12



Product
Fires
Injuries
Deaths
Cooking appliances
11954
1,477
10
Electricity supply - Wiring, cabling, plugs
2,899
223
10
Washing Machines and Tumble Driers
1,083
80
0
Lighting
767
74
1
Dishwashers
475
68
0

 

A DTI report estimates that 20% of electrical fires could be prevented by the presence of an RCDvi.

5. Recall statistics from the European Rapid Alert System - RAPEX vii:

The product categories most frequently notified through the RAPEX system in 2011 were:

 • Clothing, textiles and fashion items (423 notifications, 27%)

 • Toys (324 notifications, 21%)

 • Motor vehicles (171 notifications, 11%)

 • Electrical appliances and equipment (153 notifications, 8%)

 • Cosmetics (104 notifications, 7%).

 

The five most frequently notified risk categories were:

 • Injuries (481 notifications, 26%)

 • Chemical (347 notifications, 19%)

 • Strangulation (275 notifications, 15%)

 • Choking (224 notifications, 12%)

 • Electric shock (216 notifications, 12%).

6. Demographic breakdowns of electrical safety features from the 2010 English Housing Survey viii

Tenure

Electrical Safety Feature

all PVC
wiring

all modern
earthing

modern
consumer unit

MCB

RCD in
consumer unit
or separate
RCDs

all 5
electrical
safety
features

owner occupied

97.9

91.0

61.5

69.9

59.9

42.7

private rented

97.9

92.4

64.7

76.2

62.3

45.6

local authority

98.1

94.3

70.1

89.2

76.0

56.3

housing association

98.8

96.4

77.7

93.5

81.7

63.4














Household Composition

Electrical Safety Feature

all PVC
wiring

all modern
earthing

modern
consumer unit

MCB

RCD in
consumer unit
or separate
RCDs

all 5
electrical
safety
features

couple under 60

98.1

93.1

65.1

75.6

65.3

47.0

couple 60 or over

98.2

90.5

58.4

68.2

57.4

39.5

couple with children

98.5

94.2

68.6

80.4

69.5

52.0

lone parent

98.2

94.5

68.5

83.9

70.5

51.8

multi-person household

97.0

91.6

63.4

74.8

61.8

44.3

one person under 60

97.7

91.9

66.4

75.4

64.4

47.3

one person 60 or over

97.7

87.6

58.9

66.7

56.1

40.3

 

Age of Oldest Person

 

 

 

 

 

 

under 60 years

98.0

93.3

67.2

78.5

67.0

49.3

60 years or more

98.0

89.6

58.8

68.0

57.7

40.4

75 years or more

97.0

87.1

56.3

63.8

54.3

36.8

 

7. Number of Part P-registered firms undertaking domestic installations in England and Wales  ix

As of September 2012 there were 40,571 Part P full competence members, up from 31,304 in March 2007.

 

Competent Person's Schemes Statistics - Part P Full Competence Certifications
12 monthly period - October to September
Period End Total

October 2006 - September 2007

31,402
October 2007 - September 2008
33,605
October 2008 - September 2009
35,167
October 2009 - September 2010
36,967
October 2010 - September 2011
38,800
October 2011 - September 2012
40,571


 
 

i Deaths are from w86/w87 ICD cause categories as created by the World Health Organisation, this data is derived from two tables - Deaths, by sex, age and cause, Scotland, 2010, published by General Register Office for Scotland (http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/general/ref-tables/2010/deaths-causes.html) and Mortality Data for 2010, England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics (http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/mortality-statistics--deaths-registered-in-england-and-wales--series-dr-/2010/stb-deaths-by-cause-2010.html).

ii  - Ulster Med J. 2009 January - Electrical Fatalities in Northern Ireland: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2629019/

iii *4,032 interviews were conducted with adults in Great Britain aged 15+ from 06 to 27 May 2011 via Ipsos MORI's Capibus, the weekly face-to-face omnibus survey, using a nationally representative quota sample across Great Britain. The results have been weighted to reflect the known profile of the adult population in Great Britain. Based on a confidence interval of +/- 0.9% and the sample size of 4,032 the actual number could vary between c2.1 to 2.8 million. Electric shock is defined as 'a mains-voltage electric shock rather than a static shock of the type a person might get from a car, for example.'

**Based on a survey of 4,032 adults in Great Britain aged 15+ who have personally experienced an electric shock that resulted in injury while at home or in the garden in the past twelve months including all those who experienced one or more of the following injuries: Severe pain, Skin burn without scarring, Bruising from a fall or severe muscular contraction, Temporary blindness, Heartbeat disturbance, Persistent pain or numbness, Higher blood pressure, Skin burn with scarring, Broken bone(s), Difficulty breathing.'

iv Data supplied by Fire Statistics Great Britain, made available by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/fire-statistics-great-britain

On the advice of the Product Safety Division of the ESC, data quoted includes fires started by electrical sources, but does not include chip/fat pan fires, playing with fire, careless handling of fire or other hot substance, person too close/fell on fire, other accidental, and unspecified categories and are quoted for a single year, rather than multi-year average. In addition, injury figures are compiled from the Hospital (Severe), Hospital (Slight) and First Aid categories in the data. The faulty power supplies categorisation is used to differentiate between product and installation fires.

v Data supplied by the Department of Communities and Local Government, 15/02/12

vi DTI Report: "Consumer Safety Research - Residual Current Devices - added value for home safety"http:webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dti.gov.uk/homesafetynetwork/pdf/rcd.pdf

vii Taken from the RAPEX Annual Report 2011: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/rapex/docs/2011_rapex_report_en.pdf

viii Demographic data taken from the 2010 English Housing Survey: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-housing-survey-homes-statistics-2010

ix Competent person self-certification schemes statistics supplied by DCLG: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/competent-person-self-certification-schemes-statistics