What the eye's can't see?

[ipf]

Heard one on Wednesday....from someone involved.
An 85 years old almost totally BLIND lady, whilst not requesting it, had a Test and Inspection carried out by someone representing the housing association who own her property.
Later she entered her bathroom and attempted to switch on the shower, only to receive a quite nasty electric shock. Luckily, she wasn't badly injured and recovered quickly.
She called her daughter, who arrived shortly afterwards. Her daughter found the shower control unit open, the lid separated in the room. She took photos and got onto the association.
The situation is ongoing.
As far as I'm concerned, things are getting beyond belief.
By the way, the lady expressed concern that the bloke responsible might loose his job......old school, thinking of others, eh!

 

[Intoelectrics]

I can see the scenario. Cover off shower, loop test we then automatically isolate and refit shower. Maybe in this case, loop test and phone rings or text comes through. What's most important, get side tracked and attend to phone, cover happily stays laying about and forgotten.

Yep, most likely the case, but no excuse. It could have been a whole lot worse than "a nasty shock" in this particular scenario.

 

[westward10]

Couldn't agree more one of the reasons mobiles are banned from many high risk environments. I always do a walk around after finishing a job to ensure all is as it should be it can happen to the best of us.

 

[Lister1987]

That’s not a near miss. She received a shock so it’s an incident.

I could be rusty but RIDDOR 2013 doesn't list electric shock as reportable?

"Accidents to members of the public or others who are not at work must be reported if they result in an injury and the person is taken directly from the scene of the accident to hospital for treatment to that injury. Examinations and diagnostic tests do not constitute ‘treatment’ in such circumstances"

 

[naylorpd]

I work in the oil industry and an electrocution would be a serious incident and the contractor responsible hauled over the coals big time. It would be labelled a HIPO - unplanned HSE incident or near-miss that has the potential severity to cause permanent disability or death

 

[Dan]

Heard one on Wednesday....from someone involved.
An 85 years old almost totally BLIND lady, whilst not requesting it, had a Test and Inspection carried out by someone representing the housing association who own her property.
Later she entered her bathroom and attempted to switch on the shower, only to receive a quite nasty electric shock. Luckily, she wasn't badly injured and recovered quickly.
She called her daughter, who arrived shortly afterwards. Her daughter found the shower control unit open, the lid separated in the room. She took photos and got onto the association.
The situation is ongoing.
As far as I'm concerned, things are getting beyond belief.
By the way, the lady expressed concern that the bloke responsible might loose his job......old school, thinking of others, eh!

The sod should be fined not just lose his job!!

 

[Strima]

I could be rusty but RIDDOR 2013 doesn't list electric shock as reportable?

"Accidents to members of the public or others who are not at work must be reported if they result in an injury and the person is taken directly from the scene of the accident to hospital for treatment to that injury. Examinations and diagnostic tests do not constitute ‘treatment’ in such circumstances"

I didn't say it was reportable under RIDDOR.

 

[sparks1234]

A lot of people on here seem to be just perfect, we are all human and we all make mistakes, I recently left a job and woke in the middle of the night wondering if the dis board cover had been reinstated after testing, I went back in to London very very early to check and happily it was but it could easily have not been. Its a nasty situation but as I said, we all make mistakes

 

[ipf]

I work in the oil industry and an electrocution would be a serious incident and the contractor responsible hauled over the coals big time. It would be labelled a HIPO - unplanned HSE incident or near-miss that has the potential severity to cause permanent disability or death

It would in whatever environment you live or work.
Suffering a mains electric shock, of any sort, is a serious incident for sure, but it is not an electrocution...….now that is gravely serious.

 

[bill01803]

If they had done a r1+ r2 test and calculated the Zs the lid would not of been left off as you would have to remove their test lead or wonder why the breaker tripped.

 

[littlespark]

In a perfect world... no one would make mistakes.

It was a combination of things here... The electrician forgot to replace the cover... for whatever reason. The old lady was partially sighted... if she had better vision, or someone caring for her doing everyday things like having a shower.. she would have seen the cover missing, reported it, and that would have been a near miss.

There is little point now slating or defending the spark in question.... There are policy's in place that should stop this from happening... but no policy is perfect.
Luckily, there was not a fatality, but things could have been so much different.
Maybe new policies will be put in place... such as 2 man teams, or extra tests developed to ensure everything is double checked before leaving a property.... Such as a minute walk round before leaving, as suggested.

I wouldn't like the excuse "everybody can make mistakes" if i'm on a bed awaiting brain surgery!

 

[ipf]

In a perfect world... no one would make mistakes.

It was a combination of things here... The electrician forgot to replace the cover... for whatever reason. The old lady was partially sighted... if she had better vision, or someone caring for her doing everyday things like having a shower.. she would have seen the cover missing, reported it, and that would have been a near miss.

There is little point now slating or defending the spark in question.... There are policy's in place that should stop this from happening... but no policy is perfect.
Luckily, there was not a fatality, but things could have been so much different.
Maybe new policies will be put in place... such as 2 man teams, or extra tests developed to ensure everything is double checked before leaving a property.... Such as a minute walk round before leaving, as suggested.

I wouldn't like the excuse "everybody can make mistakes" if i'm on a bed awaiting brain surgery!

There are all sorts of situations and reasons for such problems BUT, when it all comes down to it, the vast majority of persons, be they electricians, other trades people or even the general public, WOULD have the basic common sense to avoid such a ridiculous situation.
No way are excuses, such as cases of forgetfulness or tight time scales, viable.

 

[Des 56]

The electrician scored a own goal
We are also a player in the same game and each and every one of us is capable of messing up

The nature of our game means that messing up can cause terrible tragedy
I am not trying to excuse what happened just pointing out none of us are infallible

 

[davesparks]

If they had done a r1+ r2 test and calculated the Zs the lid would not of been left off as you would have to remove their test lead or wonder why the breaker tripped.

The lid can just as easily be left off after dead testing as after live testing.

 

[KennyKen]

I work in the oil industry and an electrocution would be a serious incident and the contractor responsible hauled over the coals big time. It would be labelled a HIPO - unplanned HSE incident or near-miss that has the potential severity to cause permanent disability or death

Me 2, Also work in Oil & Gas. Major investigation if something like this happened.

 

[Cid]

The most shocking thing about this story is that the electrician actually did any testing. The guys working for housing association are usually rushed, doing multiple properties a day.