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Each year about 20 people die from electric shock or from electrical burns received at work. As with many accidents which occur in the workplace, most of these accidents could have been prevented.

Call 0800 066 99 07 and get our personal injury team working for you straight away. The call is free, the advice is free and nothing will ever be deducted from your compensation.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, there are around 1,000 work accidents each year that involve electric shock or burns. The fatalities largely arise from contact with overhead or underground cables and it is not only electrical workers who are at risk; employees across the workplace environment can be at risk of death of injury as a result of shocks or fires.

Electrical injuries tend to fall into two categories:

1. Victims of electric shock are at great risk of death, but if they avoid it can normally recover very quickly. In some cases there can be lasting muscle strain (caused by spasm) and there can be consequential injuries, such as from falling as a result of the shock.

In many cases there will be some, possibly considerable, mental trauma.

Furthermore the passage of electric current through the body may also cause respiratory failure, fibrillation of the heart and/or cardiac arrest so non-fatal shocks can cause severe or permanent injury.

2. Electrical burns victims usually suffer as a result of electrical arcing, possibly as a result of a short circuit. The heat generated is extremely intense and causes particularly deep burns which are very slow to heal. Several hundred burns cases take place every year as a result of unsafe working practices. In addition to burns, the intense ultraviolet radiation from an electric arc can cause severe temporary - and sometimes permanent - eye damage.

The flash from arcing can often be a contributory cause of major fires, especially if flammable materials are in the proximity, which can result in further death, injury and considerable financial loss.

Most electrical accidents occur because:

• equipment is thought to be "dead" (not charged or is isolated from the power supply) but is actually "live"
• equipment is known to be "live" (charged or connected to the power supply) but those involved do not have the proper training, the appropriate equipment, or have not taken proper precautions.

Risk of injury can be higher when the working environment is wet, outdoors or cramped.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require precautions to be taken against the risk of death or injury from electricity during work at, or near electrical systems.

Dealing with installations is a skilled task which requires expert, trained practitioners working under proper supervision and using correct working methods with appropriate protective equipment.

Always take medical and legal advice if you suffer from an electric shock or electrical burns at work. injurywatch.co.uk's free legal helpdesk is always a good place to start the process.

Areas where an employer may be negligent include:

• provision of improperly designed or unsuitable equipment
• use of unguarded trailing cables or improperly shielded switchboxes
• inadequate warning of electrical hazards
• insufficient training or instruction of staff
• adoption of unsafe working practices, either by the employer or another employee working in the course of his employment
• insufficient cut-out or safety devices
• provision of inadequate or faulty insulation
• provision of inadequate protective clothing
• inadequate access restrictions to work areas: posting of guard rails, handrails and barriers
• provision of unsuitable or inadequate footwear

As always, gather the evidence:

• see a doctor -the effect of your injuries might be obvious in most cases, but injuries such as trauma don't always show up straight away
• keep a dossier. Include a diary recording all the details of the incident, who you saw and all the expenses or losses you incurred, including receipts
• record the details of the incident - take photographs of the site (with a ruler to show the scale and signed and dated on the back) and any equipment or circumstance which you feel may have contributed to your injury. Draw a plan or sketch map if relevant.
• gather personal details of all the people who witnessed the accident
• gather information (backed up by witness statements from others) as to how long the hazard had been in place.
• note and detail any measures (such as signage) which had been taken to warn of, or otherwise diminish the risk
• note and detail any measures (such as absence of handrails, proper systems or trained staff) which exacerbated the risk
• if the injury results from negligent practices, your legal team should be able to produce an expert who will detail how the problem should have been approached.