2009 Ontario Electrical Safety Report

The purpose of this report is to provide stakeholders the state of electrical safety in Ontario. This report is a culmination of statistics on electrical incidents: electrocutions and injuries of electrical nature; and fire incidents causing death, injuries, and damage identified by the Office of Fire Marshal of Ontario and local fire Departments in Ontario with “electricity identified as the fuel source”. ESA operates within a broader Electrical Safety System.  This system includes electrical utilities and those organizations that generate, transmit and distribute electricity.  It includes organizations that design, manufacture, distribute and supply electrical products and electrical contractors who install, repair and maintain electrical wiring installations and products in our homes, workplaces and public spaces.

It is hoped that this report helps educate and inform members of the broader electrical safety system by helping them identify key electrical safety risks so that they will take appropriate action. This information can also help organizations developing and improving standards, to identify areas for continued safety research, to shape the development of workplace and community-based safety programs, and to lead to improvement in training, education and communications programs.

Key Findings:
Fatalities
Over the last ten years (2000 to 2009), there were 207 electricity-related fatalities in Ontario – 90 from electrocutions, and 117 from fires where the ignition source was identified as electrical.   By comparison, from 1999 to 2008, there were 219 fatalities: 95 electrocutions and 124 fire deaths
.
Fire Fatalities & Events
The rate of fire fatalities (where the ignition source was identified as electrical) has declined steadily since 1996:
• From 1996 to 2000, the rate was 1.67 per million population;
• From 2000 to 2004, the rate was 1.050;
• From 2005 to 2009, the rate was 0.844.
The number of electrical fire incidents has declined 32% over the past ten years.

Electrical-Related Injuries
In 2008 (the most recent year for which we have data) there were:
• 85 non-critical electrical injuries, a decline of 39% over nine years:
• 78,256 lost-time injuries, a decline of 25%.

Priority Issues
• Reducing powerline contact
• Reducing serious injuries and incidents to electrical workers
• Reducing incidents associated with the misuse of electrical products, unapproved, or counterfeit products
• Reducing electrical contact and fires associated with older buildings and electrical infrastructure

In addition, ESA is working on a set of emerging safety issues:
• Streetlighting
• Aging utility infrastructure
• Inadequate powerline clearance to new buildings
• 347V occupational safety concerns
• Electrical Devices and Bathtubs
• Fatalities with theft of copper and power

Click here to read the full report (note it is 68 pages long, and 6,791 KB, and might take some time to download, depending on your internet speed)