Should Socket Outlets be Allowed Anywhere Near to Bath Tubs? 2.5m?

That's one for the Darwin awards surely.

Rested an extension lead on his chest? In the bath?

There's not much BS7671 can do about that.

Floating neutral?

This news story is over 5 years old... 

perhaps a 5v USB socket in the bathroom would have been more sense, a live mains extension lead with a dangling socket in the bath regardless of where you plug it in is unwise.

Stupid, avoidable, but mercifully very rare. Unlikely to be mitigated by any  of the recent regs changes, AFDD metal CUs and so on. A more sensitive RCD may help a bit, perhaps, if the bath is earthed but not for sure.

Mike

Oh Dear, not good, even a landline phone socket in a bathroom is not allowed. 5v charging lead for a mobile phone not a good idea either? but a mains extension, well mercifully rare but there you go, if it can happen it will happen and all we can hope for at best is that we might have reduced the odds of that to some degree

Nowhere in the telephone SINs does it prohibit a land line phone in a bathroom,  and in the country I am in right now, it is permitted and in Hotels quite common. In practice it causes no significant  problems. Most of the 230V world  permits an RCD protected socket if further than  60cm from the bath edge and out of line of splash from taps etc. 
Like us, most accidental deaths in bathrooms are folk slipping on wet surfaces and hitting the head, or heart attacks.  Incidence of electrocution is way down, and we have our exploding hairdryer tangled lead incidents in comparable numbers,  just in the bedroom instead.

Mike

mapj1 said:

perhaps a 5v USB socket in the bathroom would have been more sense

But even then, we should be recommending equipment that is not both fixed, and intended for use in Zone 0, should not be used there.

If the USB outlet goes into Zone 2, say, standard switch/socket backbox mounting, and has mains input, interesting discussion regarding whether (or under what conditions) the source would be considered 'outside the zones'.

In selecting the source for the USB outlet, note the BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 change in 701.414 regarding sources for SELV and PELV equipment in zones 0, 1 and 2 (applies even where the source is situated outside the zones, as required by 701.55).

Just a final couple of thoughts.

(a) Whilst a lot of electronic appliances take in DC, their internal voltages and currents may not, from an electric shock perspective, be strictly 'ripple-free DC' ... and there may be converters inside that up the voltage. These may well exceed the equivalent of 12 V AC rms permitted by BS 7671 in Zone 0.

(b) Product standards may have different consideration for SELV and PELV voltages for different conditions, and these can be more (or less) stringent than in BS 7671 - or alternatively, a product standard such as BS EN 62368-1 may ignore wet condition altogether if it's stated the standard considers only dry condition.

a) Whilst a lot of electronic appliances take in DC, their internal voltages and currents may not, from an electric shock perspective, be strictly 'ripple-free DC' ... and there may be converters inside that up the voltage. These may well exceed the equivalent of 12 V AC rms permitted by BS 7671 in Zone 0.

But also true of battery powered kit - and if it says keep away from water (as it may well, and probably should), then there is an element of  caveat emptor. (some of the larger display backlight power units are lethal once open to touch)

After all  BS7671 is only Requirements for Electrical Installations - what you later do with the electrons so provided by  that  installation is someone else's problem. Arguably even that title includes quite a bit of  mission creep, as wiring in cars, electric fencing, or wiring in buildings for  telephony, IT, RF, perhaps even door bells have their  own standards.

(b) Product standards may have different consideration for SELV and PELV voltages for different conditions, and these can be more (or less) stringent than in BS 7671 - or alternatively, a product standard such as BS EN 62368-1 may ignore wet condition altogether if it's stated the standard considers only dry condition.

Absolutely true. So why should that affect the Electrician doing the fixed wiring.

BS7671 is not the only fruit, and the BSI is not the only creator of standards.

M.

Ah yes, but under Amd 2 it will be possible to electrocute oneself with a shorter extension lead.

I'm not going to suggest that we cut 50cm off all extension leads to keep the risk constant.... It was a sily rule before, and it still is, the number has changed. Its not the distance that matters it is where the socket is, in terms of splashing, and how its location means it will be used.  Beng able to mount a socket in the firing line of a urinal as in  principle we currently can, does not make it a good idea, on the other hand a socket for charging a toothbrush in or on the far side of a bathroom cabinet is pretty low risk.

M.