What are the statistics on electrical deaths and injuries?
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission indicates that there were 440 total accidental electrocutions in the United States in 1999, 170 related to consumer products. Twenty-nine of those related to household wiring, 29 to small appliances, 22 to large appliances, 15 to power tools, 13 related to ladders, 12 to garden/farm equipment, and 9 to lighting equipment. But that is only part of the story. According to the latest statistics from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there is an annual average of 111,400 home fires caused by faulty electrical distribution systems, electrical appliances and equipment, or heating and air conditioning systems, taking an average of 860 lives, injuring 3,785 and causing nearly $1.3 billion in property damage. Electrocution is now the fifth leading cause of work-related deaths in the United States, with over 50% of the total occurring in the construction industry.
