Protection against burns, electric shock and fires in electrical installations

Abstract

By the extensive legislations and regulations in electricity safety we have in various countries, it is obvious that the danger of electricity is well known and adequate safeguard should be in place. However, behind the scenes of ordinary users enjoying the efficiently delivered electricity in our electrical installations, the occurrence of electrical accidents remains at a steady rate injuring thousands of people in the past few years. This paper drew ten cases of breaching electrical safety incidents from the UK Health and Safety Executives web site to highlight the causes of the accidents and what lessons we can learn from them. The final part of this paper gave an insight to an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) which claims to be able to detect arcing faults that occur in damaged or deteriorated wires and cords. With better technology and safer installation practices, our electrical systems could be made a lot safer than it used to be against fire hazards as well as against burns and electric shock.