Electricity Safety Legislation
Working with electricity can be dangerous. Engineers, electricians, and other workers deal with electricity directly, including working on overhead lines, electrical installation and circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers, farmers, and construction workers work with electricity indirectly and may also be exposed to electrical hazards.
Fatality rate
In Ireland, there have been 54 electrocutions or deaths from the explosive/burning effects of electricity since 1995. Of those, 38 deaths have been associated with a work activity. The remaining 16 have occurred in domestic situations or as a result of trespass, vandalism or in one case a fallen overhead power line.
Fig 1 -Number of Electrical Fatalities in Ireland since 1995.
Each number shown above represents people killed due to electricity.
The actual occurrences that led to the deaths are set out in the enclosed table of electrical fatalities. This table gives a brief description of each fatal incident.
The Electro Technical Council of Ireland (ETCI), and in particular, their Technical Committee dealing with Safety (TC5), monitors all aspects of electrical safety in the country and also issue several publications on the entire area of electrical safety.