Introduction to 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 52 fatalities arising directly from electricity  between 1995 and 2008. Of those, 37deaths have been associated with a work activity. The remaining 15 have occurred in domestic situations or as a result of trespass, vandalism or in one case a fallen overhead power line.

Fig 1 below shows the breakdown of those incidents over the years in question and whether they were work related or not.

Fig 1 -Number of Electrical Fatalities in Ireland since 1995.

Each number listed above represents people killed due to electricity. The actual occurrences that led to the deaths are set out in the table enclosed. This table gives a brief description of each fatal incident.

 

Fatal Electrocutions in Ireland1995 to 2008
Date	Site	Gender	Age Group	Activity	Probable Main Agent	Voltage
2008	Construction Site/Farm	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Truck Mounted Crane	10 kV
2007	Private housing/Apartment development	Male	Under 12	Non Work	Contact with Damaged  Lamp-post	LV
2007	Construction	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Floating Concrete	10 kV
2005	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Concrete Conveyor	10kV
2005	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Metal Stay	20 kV
2005	Construction	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Installing Concrete Slab	10kV
2005	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Welder in Hospital	LV
2005	Household	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Washing Machine	LV
2004	Farm	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Lighting Tower	20kV
2004	Farm	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Lighting Tower	20 kV
2004	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Guttering	10 kV
2004	Farm	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Silage Harvester	10kV
2004	Yard	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Truck Mounted Crane	20kV
2003	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Exploding Circuit Breaker	10 kV
2003	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Exploding Circuit Breaker	10 kV
2003	Construction	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Concrete Chute	10 kV
2002	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Crane moving Welder	10 kV
2002	Countryside	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Cutting Timber	20 kV
2002	Garden	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Secateurs cut cable	LV
2002	Utility Substation	Male	Under 12	Non Work	Child Climbed into Substation	10 kV
2001	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Tipping Tarmacadam	10 kV
2001	Farm	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Live Parts in a Poultry shed	LV
2001	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Truck Mounted Crane	38 kV
2001	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Plumbing in Kitchen	LV
2000	Construction	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Lighting POD	LV
2000	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Lighting POD	LV
2000	Farmland	Female	Adult Over 50	Non Work	Fallen ESB Line	10 kV
2000	ESB Network	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Technician Working on Overhead Network	10 kV
2000	Household	Male	Adult < 25	Non Work	Changing Bulb	LV
2000	Household	Male	Under 12	Non Work	Toddler-Nail in Socket	LV
2000	Milking Parlour	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Milking Machine  Became Live	LV
2000	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Electrician Killed by Metalwork	LV
2000	Basement of Apartment block	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Delivery Person Copper Pipes on Broken Light Switch	LV
1999	Utility substation	Male	Adult < 25	Non Work	Man Gained Access to Substation	110kV
1999	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Concrete Conveyor	10 kV
1999	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Elec. Craftsman working on 3 phase panel	LV
1999	Industrial	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Elec. Craftsman working on 3 phase Motor	LV
1998	Railway	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Man on DART Powerline	1500 VDC
1998	Household	Male	Adult 25-50	Non Work	Working in Radio Hut	LV
1998	Household	Male	Teenager	Non work	Having a shower	LV
1998	Farm	Male	Teenager	Work	Mains on Electric Fence	LV
1997	Farm	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Power Washer in Piggery	LV
1997	Farm	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Welding in a Shed	LV
1997	Construction	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Roofer Hit Line	10 kV
1996	Halting site	Male	Adult Over 50	Work	Truck Mounted Crane	10 kV
1996	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Tipper Truck Driver stepping off truck	10kV
1996	Construction	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Concrete Conveyor	10 kV
1996	Industrial	Male	Teenager	Work	Teenager in Contact with Wire slung on 10 kV line	10kV
1996	Household	Female	Adult < 25	Non Work	Woman Having Shower	LV
1995	Household	Male	Adult Over 50	Non Work	Contact with Bare Conductors  in Socket	LV
1995	Sports field	Male	Adult 25-50	Work	Portable Scaffold on Sports Pitch	10 kV
1995	Countryside	Male	Adult < 25	Work	Truck Tipping	10 kV

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.

 

 

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