Around 400 people are electrocuted at home each year, resulting in about 200 deaths.
All of the electrocution stats on this page are current and up-to-date.
In fact, we spent over 40 hours researching the latest statistics in this industry.
Keep reading to find new stats, facts, and trends related to:
- Electrocution statistics
- Electrical accidents and injuries
- Electrical fatalities
- Electrocution deaths per year
- How many electricians die each year?
- Trends in the electrical industry
- A whole lot more
Let’s see some stats!
Key Electrical Accidents Statistics:
- About 400 people are electrocuted at home each year, resulting in about 200 deaths.
- On average, 4 people die from an at-home electrocution every week.
- About 10% of all at-home electrocutions are caused by large appliances.
- About 4,000 people are electrocuted in the workplace each year.
- Broken electrical equipment causes around 140,000 home and workplace fires every year. These fires cause another 4,000 injuries, and claim an additional 400 lives on average.
- In 2019, out of every 100,000 electricians, 166 died from electrical accidents.
- It is estimated that there are between 500-1,000 deaths from electrical injuries every year in the United States.
- There are approximately 30,000 nonfatal electrical injuries every year.
- Costs for treating non-fatal electrical injuries incurred while on the job cost between $1-4 million.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that a majority of electrical accidents are preventable.
Worldwide Electrical Accidents Statistics
Electricity is something that our modern world could not function without. Every day, we use it without thinking about it when we turn on a light switch or power up our computers to start the day.
We take electricity for granted so much that we tend to forget that it dissevers a healthy dose of respect. Let’s take a look at the number of injuries that are caused by electricity every year.
Overview Of Electrical Accidents Statistics
How many electrical accidents occur each year worldwide?
About 400 people are electrocuted at home each year, resulting in about 200 deaths.
On average, 4 people die from an at-home electrocution every week.
Approximately 10% of all at-home electrocutions are caused by large appliances.
How common are electrical accidents?
Deaths by fatal injuries involving electricity are quite common.
In a study of 5,431 deaths from unnatural causes between 2012 and 2016, nearly one in 49 were due to electrical burns.
In all 88 cases of death by electrocution, 76 were males and only 12 were females.
How many electrocution deaths are there every year?
Much of the information that could be found on deaths by electrocution, including lightning, involved a close look at a single country or specific group of workers.
As with the total number of injuries by electricity, no solid global information could e found. As an example, there were 9,606 deaths by electrocution in India in 2016 alone.
How many electricians are killed each year?
In 2019, 166 electricians died in the United States for every 100,000 electricians.
What are the main causes of electrical accidents?
The main causes of electrical shock in the home are:
- Children putting things in outlets
- Children touching or biting cords
- Failure to follow direction when using appliances
- Using electrical appliances in the bath or shower
- Failure to turn off the circuit breaker when working on electricity
On the job, the most common cause of electrical injury is failure to follow proper procedures, including lock-out/tag-out procedures.
What is the most common electrical injury?
The most common type of injury when people are electrocuted are burns, both internal and external.
They also experience electrolyte disturbances and organ damage. Those who have been injured by electrical shock are prone to kidney injury.
How many electrical injuries occur each year?
The best data that we have about electrical injuries comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which only covers accidents involving the workplace.
It only first began to compile data on this issue in 1992. Between 1992 and 2010, work-related electrical fatalities dropped from around 325 to about 160.
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Database, there were 63,193 reported electrical injuries between 1995-2013.
These agencies do not conduct such large surveys every year. It also shows that different agencies can have significantly different numbers. This can be due to reporting requirements between the two agencies.
How many people are injured because of misuse of electricity?
One of the main causes of electrical injury is using an electrical device using an electrical device improperly or using a device for something for which it was not designed.
How many fatal accidents are caused by electricity every year per capita?
One type of electrical injury that is well-tracked is death by lightning strikes. At present, it is at about 0.3
deaths per million people in the United States.
How many workers suffer from electricity-related injuries each year?
In the United States, there are approximately 30,000 non-fatal shock injuries every year.
Approximately 400 of them are due to high-voltage accidents. Between 50-300 are caused by lightning. Approximately 5% of all people admitted to burn units are there due to an electrical injury. [GP1]
Key Takeaway: Finding exact numbers that represent the number of people injured or killed by electrical accidents is difficult to find. Many different agencies track the information, but for various reasons.
Data on electrical injuries is better for work-related injuries than for those that occur in the home. Even considering this lack of statistical information, the numbers that we do have suggest that those working around and using electricity every day need to be mindful of the dangers.
U.S. Electrical Accidents Statistics
Much of the data that we have about electrical accidents in the United States comes from OSHA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We also have limited data from the number of patients who are admitted to burn units of hospitals for electricity-related injuries. Here is some of the information that can be found on the number of people injured or killed by electricity in the United States.
How many electrical accidents occur each year in the U.S.?
There are approximately 500-1,000 deaths from electrical injuries in the United States every year.
Nearly 3-5% of both fatal and non-fatal admissions to burn units every year are a result of electrical injuries.
How common are electrical accidents in the U.S?
Currently, there are 333,313,436 billion people in the United States.
If there are approximately 30,000 electrical accidents every year, that means approximately 0.09% of the U.S. population will experience an accident involving electricity this year.
How many electrocution deaths are there in the U.S?
In the United States, approximately 1,000 deaths occur every year as a result of electrical injuries.
Most of them occur as a result of workplace accidents, particularly in the construction industry.
How many electricians are killed each year in the U.S?
In the United States, electricity kills nearly 143 construction workers every year. Of those, 34% were electrical workers.
The most common cause of death for these workers was working near live high voltage wires.
How many electrical injuries occur each year in the U.S?
In the United States, there were approximately 1,900 electrical injuries that were occupationally related. This number has been as low as 1,560 in 2018 and as high as 2,480 in 2015.
Key Takeaway: Although deaths and injuries from electricity pale in comparison to deaths from disease and other causes, the key takeaway is that a majority of these deaths are preventable.
Whether you are at home or work, it is important to engage in safe practices like keeping electrical cords away from children, and maintaining an awareness of your surroundings when you are working on or near any sources of electricity.
Child Electrocution Statistics
Any child accident is a tragedy, and an alarming number of electrical injuries and deaths related to electricity occur in those under the age of 18. Unfortunately, many of them occur in toddlers and very young children. Here are some numbers on how many children are affected by electrical accidents every year.
How many children are electrocuted?
Approximately 20% of the 30,000 electrical injuries that occur every year are in children.
The incidence is highest in toddlers and adolescents. Most of them occur in the home. Many of the deaths sin toddlers are a result of the child biting an electrical cord or sticking something into an outlet.
How many kids die from electrical shock?
Approximately 12 children are fatally injured when they stick something into an electrical outlet. That is out of 2,400 who are severely injured or burned by this same activity. Childproof electrical outlet covers could prevent many of these injuries.
Key Takeaway: These numbers do not tell the whole story. Of those that are shocked, but who do not die, they are often left with life-limiting, permanent injuries that can affect the organs.
They also might have extensive scarring and disfigurement. The worst thing you can do is to think that it cannot happen to you. You need to take precautions to protect your children from injuries by electricity every day.
Household Electrocution Statistics
There is no such thing as being too cautious about the dangers that are posed by electricity. It is so much a part of our everyday world that we can become complacent. Accidents happen more often than people imagine. Here are a few statistics that we have on the number of people who are seriously injured or killed due to electricity at home.
How common is electrocution?
Only two studies could be found that addressed this issue. One reported that approximately 4.6-8% of all admission to a Nigerian burn unit were due to electrical injuries.
Between 3-4% of the burn unit population in Maghsoudi, Iran were from electrical injuries. The statistics on a global level are extremely spotty and are typically limited to a single country or local population.
How many people are electrocuted in the U.K?
In Ireland, 40 accidental electrocutions took place between 2001 and 2020. The death rate from electrical accidents in the UK is about 0.54 deaths per 100,000 people.
That is about 54,000 per year. One of the things that affects the death rate in the U.K. is that it uses a standard 240-volt alternating current, as compared to the 110-volt direct current used in the U.S.
This causes more severe injuries in the U.K., as compared to the U.S.
What are the odds of surviving electrocution?
The odds of surviving electrocution depend on the health of the person, their age, and whether the exposure was due to high voltage or low voltage electricity. The potential for surviving high voltage injuries is low. Advances in ICU care, nutritional support, surgical procedures, and burn care have improved the chances of survival in recent years.
How many people die each year from electrical outlets?
Every year in the United States approximately 2,400 children are injured by electrical outlets. This is almost seven children every day. The most common cause of injury is when the child sticks something into the outlet. The most common objects stuck into outlets include metal sewing pins, keys, and paperclips.
Key Takeaway: Every day, many people are injured by electricity. Many of these accidents could be prevented. This only includes data on the number of people who are injured by direct electrical shocks.
Many more could be added to these numbers if you include those who are injured by electrical fires. Many of these incidents are preventable tragedies.
Top Trends in the Electrical Industry
Here is a list of the latest trends in the electrical industry. This will include energy storage, a growing demand for energy, and much more.
The world of energy and energy production is changing. New technology and trends are emerging in response to the need to cut back on consumption and find more efficient ways of generating electricity.
These new technologies promise new opportunities for job growth and a more sustainable future. Here are some of the ways the use and production of electricity are changing.
- Energy Storage. Energy can be only be generated at a relatively fixed rate over time, but demand fluctuates. The development of more efficient energy storage will allow companies to better meet the demand of these fluctuations. (Energy.gov)
- Growing Energy Demand. Energy demand continues to grow as developing nations become more connected. Demand in India outpaces other regions, including Asia and Africa. China accounts for nearly 40% of global growth in demand (IEA.org)
- Renewable Energy. Growth in renewable energy sources is now outpacing traditional energy production. Now, 32 countries produce at least 10 GW of renewable power, which is up from 19 10 years ago. (Ren21)
- Grid Parity. Grid parity is when clean energy forms cost the same or less than traditional energy forms. This is the goal that many countries are moving toward in the future. (Climate Reality Project)
- Building Information Modeling. This is a process of creating and managing buildings in a way that integrates the structure with data to measure the energy use across its entire lifecycle from construction to operations. (Autodesk)
- Energy Reduction. In 2020, global energy demand dropped 3.5%, but in 2021, it grew by 4.1%. Reducing consumption is one side of the equation in meeting the energy demands of the future. (Enerdata)
- Smart Cities. Smart cities are the way to city planning of the future. These cities are interconnected networks of smart devices that work together to reduce energy demand and address the growing challenges of urbanization. (Thales Group)
Key Takeaway: The world is changing how we think about energy consumption and energy production. The development of new technology will us meet the growing demand of the world, as more people become connected and interact with modern technology.
Random Workplace Injury Stats & Facts
Workplace injuries and deaths involving electricity are more common than injuries that occur in the home. We also have better records of injuries on the job that are related to electricity. As expected, certain industries are more prone to injuries from electricity than others. Here are some of the findings of our search.
How many fatal electrical injuries are there every year?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 350 electrical-related injuries every year, which is almost one every day.
Electrocution is the third highest cause of death among 16 and 17-year-old workers. Electrocutions among this age group account for approximately 12% of all workplace deaths from any cause.
How many nonfatal electrical injuries are there every year?
The main cause of injury from electricity while on the job is engaging in short-cuts and other risky behavior. It is estimated that there are approximately 300 nonfatal injuries for every 300,000 at-risk behaviors, such as failing to follow proper procedures.
Of those, there are 30 lost-time injuries and one fatality. This adds up to about 30,000 nonfatal electrical injuries every year.
It is noted that this number might be lower than the actual number of injuries because no all accidents get reported, particularly if the person was only minorly injured and could face consequences for the accident.
10 Important Workplace Injury Stats
Here are 10 of the most important things you should know about electrical injuries and deaths in the workplace.
- The cost of a non-fatal electrical shock on the job can cost between $1 million and $4 million.
- The most common cause of electrical injuries on the job included contact with circuit breakers, control panels, lighting, junction boxes, and transformers.
- Failure to follow proper lock-out/tag-out procedures was the most common cause of non-fatal injury among workers.
- Over 90% of all power line contact accidents were caused by overhead distribution conductors
- Aside from electrical workers, those most likely to become involved in an electrical accident are sheet metal workers, roofers, and siding installers.
- Other occupations at risk for electrical injury are tree trimmers, water/sewer/pipeline workers, communication contractors, and painting contractors.
- Nearly 62 agricultural workers die every year from coming into contact with overhead powerlines.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a majority of accidents involving electricity could be prevented.
- The primary injury is burns but there can also be additional injured from falls and from intense contraction of the muscles.
- Treatment for a single accident can be over $500,000 and result in some form of permanent disorder, such as heart problems, extensive scarring, and neurological problems.
Key Takeaway: Electrical injuries are a serious issue, and many of them can be prevented. The most common cause of electrical injuries on the job is a failure to be away that electricity is nearby.
Another major cause of injury is getting in a hurry and taking shortcuts. Electrical injuries can lead to death or permanent injury, so it is always best to take your time and be aware of your surroundings.
Conclusion
That is it for my list of electrical industry and electricity statistics.
Electricity is something that we cannot live without in our modern world, but it is also something that we need to treat with respect and always be aware of the danger when we are working around it.
If you have any questions, you can email us at hello@getonedesk.com. Be sure to check out our other industry studies on this site.
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