A study by Electrical Safety First has identified that our risky behaviours are leading to a huge number of accidents and with support from property expert Phil Spencer, the Charity is launching ‘Home Safe’, a campaign to remind everyone that even the smallest mishap can lead to devastating consequences.

UK adults have over 80 million home accidents each year, causing physical injury or property damage. Over a third of us admit we’ve burnt ourselves on an electrical item, over half have injured ourselves while cooking and one in ten have experienced a fire in the home. The Charity says this is the result of the increasing number of unnecessary risks we take, which range from overloading sockets to fixing appliances that are still plugged in and using power tools without RCD protection. Over 6 million of us are guilty of taking batteries out of smoke alarms to silence them and 2.5 million have tried to dry objects in the microwave.

The consequences can be serious – electricity alone causes 70 deaths a year and 350,000 serious injuries – and the number of fires has increased by 10% in the last year. House fires, a third of which were caused by the misuse of electrical appliances, resulted in almost a billion pounds worth of damage last year and caused 258 deaths, of which 146 occurred in homes without a working smoke alarm.

Electrical Safety First has created a ‘House of Horrors’ video demonstrating the risks we take around the house. To view the video and for more information about electrical, gas, or water safety in your home, visit www.electricalsafetyfirst.org/homesafe