From Means of Escape:

Is your electric blanket safe?As we are coming into the winter months and the temperature drops, many people are getting their electric blankets out to keep them warm throughout the night. Unfortunately though, there have been a lot of incidents over the past couple of months concerning electric blankets and authorities are now warning us of the hazards these blankets can bring us. News feeds are riddled with unfortunate events started by our warm comfy friend and it looks like these blankets could be an accident waiting to happen.

“A five-month-old baby has been taken to hospital after a fire broke out in a bedroom of a house in Edinburgh, caused by a faulty electric blanket.” BBC“A man from Gloucestershire has died in a fire thought to have been caused by a faulty electric blanket.” BBCCurrent research by Fire & Rescue Services show us that each year 20 people are killed and over 250 injured in electric blanket fires.

Faulty blankets cause more than 1000 house fires a year. The combination of heat, electricity and flammable material (usually your bedding) and a sleeping occupant does immediately not sound like a good mix. There is a major risk of an electrical fire starting here and what makes matters worse it the fact the over 50% of the time the occupant will be asleep. No wonder it is a growing concern for fire safety officials across Britain.Electric blankets require monitoring. Fire Safety requires monitoring. As a whole it is a manageable process and is well worth the little time it will take you to check.

As a fire safety consultancy that deals primarily with fire safety in the workplace we do believe that fire safety should begin in your home. Checking your fire alarm/smoke alarm, windows, and escape routes is all part of the management of fire safety. It is the life saver on which you will turn to in the event of a fire.

A fire is devastating and is just not worth it.Type in “Electric Blanket Safety Advice” into your search engine. Go to a reliable source and take the advice given to check your electric blanket. As 99% of electric blanket fires are started by blankets that are over 10 years old, I say to those, go and treat yourselves to a new one. The advice is simple and you can check it yourselves or if you don’t feel comfortable doing so, there are plenty of services that will check it out for you. It will be even comfier knowing that you are safe.

A note: Just as I was writing this article a news item popped through my RSS Feed “Elderly woman hurt in fire caused by electric blanket”