Halton Trading Standards are advising local residents on electric blanket safety.
Over the past few months the Council’s Trading Standards and Public Health teams have been working together to swap residents’ old electric blankets for new ones. More than 100 blankets have been exchanged using grant money provided by Electrical Safety First, who are a charity promoting electrical safety.
With household energy costs currently being so high, electric blankets have become increasingly popular over the past few years. This is due to them being cheap to purchase and run, with a running cost per hour of around 5-8p.
Halton Trading Standards found a high non-compliance rate of 64% with the electrical blankets swapped. This mirrors similar testing results carried out by other Trading Standards services with failure rates of 73% in Hertfordshire in 2022, 86% in Buckinghamshire & Surrey in 2023 and 68% in Nottinghamshire in 2024.
In 2023 Which? carried out testing, and 9 out of 11 new electric blankets purchased from online marketplaces couldn’t legally be sold in the UK, 8 were poorly made and 3 were an electric shock risk. This indicates there is a risk with not only old, but new electric blankets too.
For this reason Halton Trading Standards recommends only buying branded electric blankets from trusted suppliers and avoid buying from online marketplaces.
Halton Trading Standards are recommending that users of electric blankets carry out a visual safety inspection for:
- Scorch marks
- Fabric – frayed and worn
- Soiling or damp patches
- Damage to wires through folding and creasing
- Damage to the power cable
- Loose connections between the blanket and the power cable
- Loose connections between the cable and the plug
- Damage to the plug
- Burning or smouldering smell – when in use
- The control makes a buzzing sound – when in use
If your electric blanket has any of the ten above issues, then Halton Trading Standards would recommend you stop using it. Even if your electric blanket shows none of the above signs, we would recommend you replace it, if it is over ten years old. If your electric blanket has an old BEAB mark (a round symbol), it is an indication your electric blanket is over ten years old.
A spokesperson says: ‘The results from the project show how important it is to check your electric blanket before it is used, electric blankets can be damaged during storage. One way to preserve the life of your electric blanket is to roll it up or loosely fold it, this helps to prevent the damaging of the internal wiring in the fabric.
“Electric blankets should be unplugged before you go to bed, unless the blanket has a thermostat control, which makes it safe for all-night use.
“I would like to thank Electrical Safety First for the grant to allow this important project to be carried out. ”
Further guidance on how to keep yourself safe in your home is available at www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/