Elderly Woman Died after Falling from Ladder Trying to Top up Electricity Meter
In the News
When i read this i was astounded at what had happened
What was going on in the head of the meter installer that came to fit her card meter, not much i guess
Why in heavens name would he install it 8tf high , the poor woman was only 4ft 10 '' tall , even an average height person would have struggled to reach it
He must have seen how tall she was and at 80 years of age would struggle to reach it
I hope whoever it was at least gets dismissed and the family sue the company over her death
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1860610/woman-dies-falling-ladder-topping-up-house-electricity
I'm all for pre-payment meters but it never crossed my mind the meters wouldn't be placed in convenient locations without any safety issues. I guess for flats sometimes there is limited space and they struggle to find a decent spot. To be honest mine is fairly high at maybe 6' 6" above the door frame of my side door just to the left as you go in so the door won't hit it. I guess if you were short you would have to use steps if it was a pre-payment meter. I'm in a smallish 3 bedroom semi-detached house. You don't want a electricity meter easily accessible to children or pets either really due to high voltages if they pulled out cables for example. Electricity meters and consumer units can be extremely dangerous. What would be an ideal location? I guess they need to be in locked cupboard for a start with no exposed cables for children and pets to reach.
BonzoBanana Thanks B, i suppose that is another factor to take into account , access to children
I was going to say there obviously were no children living in her flat, but there could always be family visiting with children
poor lady
There are installation rules :A minimum height of 450 mm and a maximum height of 1800 m(5ft 10?) so someone is definitely not playing the game right .Sad thing.Can't bring the person back.
MelissaLee1 In my mother's house her electricity meter is close to the ground under the stairs under some shelves and mine as I said previously is on the wall at over 6ft so both of our homes are outside those rules. Maybe those rules have come in more recently for new installs.
BonzoBanana No doubt.Health and Safety is quite binding these days but at least it gives recourse to prosecution when and where necessary.
Disgusting really but that’s what happens when people don’t really care. Any reasonable person would have thought how the hell is this old lady getting up there.
I think these installers need to attend compulsory risk assessement courses before they are let loose in peoples homes J
telmel It makes you wonder what training they have had - in all respects - was the installation even safe? It's no joke when the energy company kills a customer through their incompetence!
Sad about the old lady, but I feel a compo claim coming on from the family.
Am I being too cynical?
No, you're not being cynical. I do hope the poor woman's family succeed in getting thousands of pounds in compensation.
Absolutely horrific! That damn sh*t installer what the f*ck was he thinking?!! Clearly he wasn’t wtf 
can’t believe this!! Heartbreaking 
to hear and it’s making me angry 
and swearing!!
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