Each year in Europe, 16,000 people are injured and 540 die due to electrical accidents, with more than 300 of those electrocutions occurring in Western Europe. Beyond the risk of electric shocks, there is also the risk of fire. Most of these accidents and fatalities could be avoided if electrical installations complied with the safety requirements.
It’s estimated that 85 percent of European dwellings were built before 1990. These older buildings may comply with the standards that were in place at the time of construction. However, during the 1990s significant changes took place in electrical standards. Prior to that time, some of today’s protection technologies were not available or required.
In addition, there was massive growth in electrical consumption between the 1970s and 2010s, with a ten-fold increase in appliances per household, doubling consumption per capita in mature countries.
This rising demand has put a lot of stress on older electrical systems, especially where installations may not have been properly maintained or verified. The result is a wide range of potentially dangerous conditions facing owners and tenants.
Many older dwellings show non-compliant aspects, such as absence of a protective earthing conductors for socket outlets or the entire dwelling, absence of residual current devices in bathroom or outdoor socket outlets, outlets showing heat damage from overloading, fuses or circuit breakers not properly adapted to the cross-section of conductors and a considerable number of extension cords or socket outlets sheared off.
Fortunately, there are simple steps that can be taken to gradually improve electrical safety through a program of manual safety audits.