The following information highlights the importance of maintaining safe electrical appliances; this information was gathered by Electrical Safety First.

Incidents involving electrical equipment

Incidents involving electrical equipment reported in the media – December 2016 – April 2017

As far as we’ve been made aware these figures are not official, and that the real figure would be a lot higher, as not all incidents are reported.

damaged socket by burnt plug

232 reported incidents in this period

The number of reported incidents from the 1st of December 2016 until the 31st of March 2017 is 232; up from 193 recorded in the previous quarter.

Incidents involving electrical equipment

Breakdown of the most commonly recorded causes of fire from Electrical Safety First:

  1. Tumble dryers – 101
  2. Electrical fault fires – 30
  3. Washing machines – 23
  4. Chargers – 19
  5. Dishwashers – 18
  6. Electric blankets – 11
  7. Refrigerators – 5

As in the previous period, white goods were responsible for a significant proportion of the incidents over this period – around 63% of all recorded incidents.