TENANT ELECTROCUTED BY DANGEROUS INSTALLATION - 08.02.2010

The husband of a young mother who died just days after moving into their new home in Cornwall has called for a change in the law on electrical installations in rented accommodation, a call that the Electrical Safety Council fully supports.

In July, the deputy coroner for Cornwall recorded a verdict of accidental death following the electrocution of the 33-yearold mother of two in March last year.

The inquest heard that she was killed when an oil-filled electric heater in the bathroom developed a fault, causing a lethal voltage to appear on the metal pipework in the property.

The main protective device (an old voltage operated earth-leakage circuit-breaker) that was intended to rapidly disconnect the electricity supply in such circumstances failed to operate because the connection with Earth that it needed for detecting dangerous voltages had corroded away.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, the coroner concluded that the house was electrically unsafe and openly criticised a legal loophole that allows landlords to rent homes to families without electrical safety checks being made.

The coroner concluded: “Anyone who has listened to the evidence today cannot but have been starkly reminded of the potential perils of electricity in our homes. But there is no requirement for periodic inspections of electricity in homes, and that to me seems inexplicable.”

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