Executive Summary

• More than three quarters of adults polled by the IET said they were confident about their home’s electrical safety – yet less than a third have had their electrics checked in the past decade
• The research also found homeowners had undertaken ambitious jobs which should be left to a qualified professional – 6% of those polled admitted to attempting a rewiring
• The data was released as an accompaniment to the BS 7671 Amendment 4 publication earlier this month, with the IET noting ‘standards alone aren’t enough’

New data from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has provided an eye-opening statistic: while more than three quarters (79%) of adults polled say they are confident about their home’s electrical safety, fewer than a third (30%) have had their electrics checked by a qualified electrician in more than a decade.

The research uncovered alarming habits and behaviours among the general British public. More than a third (34.6%) of respondents admitted to regularly leaving chargers or appliances plugged in overnight, while one in five (18.3%) daisy-chain extension leads. 14.6% admitted to taping over frayed or damaged wires, with one in 10 (10.9%) continuing to use damaged sockets. One in five respondents (20.1%) did not realise electrical checks were required at all.

Despite this, a chunk of those polled have attempted jobs that the IET note should be carried out by a qualified professional. More than a quarter (27%) said they had taken apart or replaced fittings, such as plug sockets or light switches; almost one in five (18.7%) have installed new lighting, while 6% admitted they attempted an entire rewiring job.

The data was released as an accompaniment to the BS 7671 Amendment 4, officially published earlier this month by the IET alongside the British Standards Institution (BSI). Some elements of the amendment reflect the changing outlook of electrics in the home, such as a new section on Power over Ethernet (PoE), with Ethernet cabling increasingly being used to supply extra-low voltage DC to low-wattage equipment such as LED lighting.

The findings ‘highlight a growing misalignment between how safe homes feel and how safe they actually are’, the IET noted. “The latest version of the IET Wiring Regulations reflects the way modern homes are changing but standards alone aren’t enough,” said Mark Coles, head of technical regulations at the IET.

“We need people to be more switched on to the risks inside their own homes, because small issues can escalate quickly if they go unchecked,” Coles added.

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