Father in law just been electrocuted .... Can he sue !!!

[macmilm]

Mass panic this afternoon.. long story short:

In laws live in a council house in the next town to us..
Couple of months back the council had the house rewired, central heating checked e.t.c for this I think they used sub-contractors....

Anyway they decided to redecorate the spare bedroom this weekend so he was in the (little used) spare room sanding skirting board when he brushed against an exposed live wire the twatty electricians had left stickin out ffs
BOOM.. ambulance came, he is obviously still alive or I wouldn't be writing this.. they will be keeping him in overnight as apparently after a shock of this size your heart can stop up to 15 hours after the initial shock....
His arm hurts like fuck and he can feel a strong pulse constantly all over


Surely he has grounds to sue some cunt for compo.. deserves it, he could be 'brown bread' right now

Hmmmm wonder what my missus would have got in his will

[Mule]

Sounds just like an 'accident that wasn't his fault'.

I would find a local solicitor willing to work with a conditional fee.

[JonEp]

Shocking !

[Geko]

It was only 240V?

[Fon]

Watt is his current situation?

Didnt he have the capacity to volt over the exposed cable?

I think id resist any free solicitors.

Hope he gets to go ohm soon and dosent have anything amped off.

Fon

[Zippeyrude]

id get some photos taken asap before tge council catch wind and fix the evidence

is this definitely nit something he did when decoratibg? i fibd it difficult to believr the council sparky would do a shitty job as they all need to be qualified

[burner1]

It was only 240V?

Along with the potential breakdown of body resistance and the current it could induce, 240v is more than enough to carry the amperage needed to kill... especially in an older person.

[macmilm]

id get some photos taken asap before tge council catch wind and fix the evidence

is this definitely nit something he did when decoratibg? i fibd it difficult to believr the council sparky would do a shitty job as they all need to be qualified

Council sent someone to rectify already.. unfortunately they didnt get photos but the people involved have acknowledged it was deffo the contractor/council at fault...
He has been sent home now but has some stuff attached to him monitoring him overnight e.t.c

Deffo nothin he has done.. he is quite clued up and not lost his marbles yet... he had not even touched the walls.. sanding the skirtin was the first thing he did

[macmilm]

P.S it was partially covered by a radiator so maybe the sparky's apprentice thought he would do a botch job... who knows

[Zippeyrude]

make a freedom of information request for documentation relating to the original work as well as the remedial eork

i can help you if needed

[Geko]

Along with the potential breakdown of body resistance and the current it could induce, 240v is more than enough to carry the amperage needed to kill... especially in an older person.

I've taken 240v about a dozen times. Never more than a little buzz. Back when I used to work live.

I'm not saying it wouldn't kill, but I would have thought it would need to run across the heart to do so.

All I was implying is that it's a tad unlucky to get such a jolt from just brushing past a cable at a low level.


Macmilm - What kind of Consumer Unit do you have installed? I would have thought an MCB and especially an RCD would have tripped out if cabling was exposed...

[macmilm]

make a freedom of information request for documentation relating to the original work as well as the remedial eork

i can help you if needed

Thanks ZIP... I will suggest he employs your services.... Me thinks Ipswich borough council are a bunch of c$nt&s !!!!
Do you have a no win no fee type of deal ??????

[Over Carl]

I've taken 240v about a dozen times. Never more than a little buzz. Back when I used to work live.

I've only ever had 4, but one caused my hand to lock onto the tranformer that I was getting a belt off. Luckily it was also causing my arm to spasm wildly enough to throw the thing away.

[BigBird]

Of course he can sue. He has been hospitalised because of someone else's shoddy work. This sounds like a perfect case for one of the no win no fee companies. (">

[Zoots]

I've only ever had 4, but one caused my hand to lock onto the tranformer that I was getting a belt off. Luckily it was also causing my arm to spasm wildly enough to throw the thing away.

That's exactly what happened to me the last time. Gave me a crazy pulse buzzing in my ears and flashing green vision. You don't forget those belts!

[lloydi]

It's the current that kills not the volts, and it only takes 0.03 of an amp or 30mili amp to kill that's why rcds are rated at 30ma

[Mr.James]

My dad was electrocuted by 240v. Heart stopped for 3mins. Out of body experience the lot... Luckily there were 3 doctors there when it happened because he'd not even met my mum at that point in his life lol


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[Zippeyrude]

Thanks ZIP... I will suggest he employs your services.... Me thinks Ipswich borough council are a bunch of c$nt&s !!!!
Do you have a no win no fee type of deal ??????

no, im not in the game of ambulance chasing, but i'm quite clued up on FOI (i've worked on it since it started, presented at ICO conferences, been an adviser on academic research / audits and even presented alongside an assistant commissioner once and at a select committee.)

The process is fairly easy but the council may seek to apply exemptions etc. to avoid disclosure. There is a good appeal process which doesnt cost anything I can help you with too if they refuse to disclose.

In terms of compensation, FOI can help you too, by making a request for amounts of compensation provided as a result of such an incident. This will be more hit and miss but you can send out emails to numerous authorities and get a few answers back.

[lloydi]

You could try contacting the NICEIC, any electrician worth his Salt will be an approved NICEIC member and as such should abide by not only the BS7671 regs but be accountable to theses guys. I should hope that a council would only work with NICEIC approved contractors.
http://www.niceic.com/

They have a complaints procedure here http://www.niceic.com/householder/complaints

And even a wall of shame lol http://www.niceic.com/householder/wall-of-shame

[macmilm]

Bit of a heads up...

His wife has been phoning round e.t.c and the info she has at the mo but cant confirm until tomorrow is that the contractor may have since gone out of business...

Also it turns out he didnt brush past the live cable with his hand whilst sanding... he saw it whilst sanding and tried to push it back in the wall with the tip of his finger lol
Lucky he is still breathin

Thanks for all the good info above guys..
Cheers