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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 the UK in 2007 from low voltage electricity supplies ⁱ

• Total: 28
• Work related electrocutions: nine
• Home or leisure electrocutions: 19

 2. Electric shocksⁱⁱ:

• 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 the UK in 2007 ⁱⁱⁱ :

4. Major products involved in electrical fires^iv:

A DTI report from 1997 estimated that 20% of electrical fires would be prevented by an RCD.

RCD protection

5. Number of homes in UK without adequate RCD protection at the consumer unitv by number and percentage of houses.

• All types of housing tenure: 12.9 million (49%)
• Owner occupied: 9.7 million (52%)
• Private rented: 1.65 million (52%)
• Local Authority: 890,000 (38%)
• Registered social landlord: 660,000 (30%)

6. Number of homes without adequate RCD protection at the consumer unit by region^vi:

• North East: 550,000 - 48.1%
• Yorkshire and The Humber: 1,204,000 - 53.8%
• North West: 1,643,000 - 53.9%
• East Midlands: 848,000 - 44.6%
• West Midlands: 980,000 - 42.5%
• South West: 1,065,000 - 46.1%
• East of England: 1,105,000 - 45.3%
• South East: 1,732,000 - 48.6%
• London: 1,779,000 - 55.3%

7. Number of owner occupied homes without adequate RCD protection in the consumer unit by region^vii

• North East: 411,000 - 54.36%
• Yorkshire and The Humber: 878,000 - 56.06%
• North West: 1,290,000 - 58.52%
• East Midlands: 688,000 - 48.90%
• West Midlands: 745,000 - 45.33%
• South West: 851,000 - 50.08%
• East of England: 876,000 - 49.09%
• South East: 1,370,000 - 51.66%
• London; 1,053,000 - 57.38%

Tenure and housing stock

Households moving per year by tenure 2007-8^viii:

• All tenures: 2.4 million
• Private renters: 1 million
• Owner-occupiers: 985,000
• Social renters: 374,000

8. Housing stock increase, England, 2007-08, Net additions 207,400^ix

• New build: 200,300
• Change of use: 17,600
• Additional dwellings from conversions: 9,000
• Demolitions: 20,500

Note: New builds from private investment totalled 144,740^x

9. House sales, England and Wales, 2006-07: 1,807,860^xi

10. Average length of tenure^xii mean (median) 2007-8:

• Owner occupiers: 16 years (11.9)
• Private renters: 4.5 years (1.5)
• Social renters: 12 years (7.8)

ⁱ Number of deaths recorded under W86 and W87 categories as reported to the World Health Organisation. Work related deaths from HSE provisional data, given in confidence, for the year 2007. Note: This excludes deaths from contact with High Voltage electrical currents, as recorded under W85, and therefore excludes some fatalities recorded by the Health and Safety Executive.

ⁱⁱ *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.'

ⁱⁱⁱ Data supplied by the Department of Communities and Local Government, 11/02/10. On the advice of the Product Safety Division of the ESC, data quoted includes fires from electrical products, 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. All fires due to 'Faulty fuel supplies' were included as installation fires. All fires resulting from 'Faulty leads to appliances', 'Faults in appliances', 'Articles and heat too close to a heat source', and 'Misuse of equipment or appliances' have been included as equipment fires, with the exception of those originating in 'Sockets and switches', 'Mains wiring: after meter', 'Mains wiring: before meter', and 'Supply apparatus', which have all been included as installation fires. This gives a total of 19,101 product fires, and 2,323 installation fires.

^iv Data supplied by the Department of Communities and Local Government, 11/02/10

^v 'Adequate' refers to 30mA RCD protection to circuits within the consumer unit, excluding protection alongside such as may be found where a TT system is used and fitted with a 100mA RCD to reduce the risk of fire. Taken from BRE data with a 95% confidence, adding together no RCDs, Separate RCDs and Unknown data for England, scaling up by the ratio of number of houses in England (22m) to number in the UK (26m)

^vi From BRE data using the same methodology as in endnoteⁱⁱⁱ

^vii From BRE data using the same methodology as in endnoteⁱⁱⁱ

^viii http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1346249.pdf, pp57, table 2.1 (England data)

^ix Housing and Planning Key Facts, Page 1, http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/keyfactsmay2010

^x Housing and Planning Key Facts, Page 2 http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/keyfactsmay2010

^xi Communities and Local Government Housing Market Data, table 533, http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/

^xiii http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1346249.pdf, pp60, table 2.3 (England data)

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