British Man Electrocuted At New Restaurant In Jomtien

[Rimmer]

British man electrocuted at new restaurant in Jomtien

PATTAYA:--A 49 year old British ex-pat died after he came into contact with live wires at his new restaurant in Jomtien on Wednesday Morning.

A Bangkok Hospital Pattaya ambulance was called to the restaurant which was due to be opened shortly in Soi Wat Boon. The medical team was confronted by the lifeless body of Mr. Timothy Jackson aged 49 and immediately began CPR and shock treatment, overseen by a Doctor who accompanied the medical team. The victim’s distraught wife, Khun Boontern aged 45, was there and watched as the Doctor desperately tried to revive Mr. Jackson.

She revealed how he was attempting to fix a faulty water pump inside the restaurant when he began to shake uncontrollably. He collapsed and Khun Boontern called the Ambulance which transported the critically ill Mr. Jackson to hospital where he was declared dead-on-arrival. Police were called in to investigate the incident and confirmed that Mr. Jackson had entered a small store room underneath the stairs to fix the faulty pump but there was water on the floor which had leaked from the pump. He was warned by his wife not to enter and wait for a qualified technician to arrive.

Full story:http://www.pattayaon...aurant-jomtien/

-- Pattaya One 2012-10-03

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[Mario2008]

Sad story, my condolences to his loved ones.

[simple1]

Condolences to his wife, family & friends. I opened a restaurant with my Thai wife and still remember the joy and excitement of embarking on a business venture together. I'm sure the deceased wife will be devastated - very sad news.

Edited October 3, 2012 by simple1

[DD13]

A very sad story, my condolences to his wife and his UK family

It is a lesson for all of us, from what I have seen in properties, Thai electrical work is on a par with the Spannish in the eighties.

No earthing ties on the water pipes, switches in bathrooms etc. are common (in reach of taps/showers etc.), switches outside in the rain, the list goes on

I dug into my lawn on one occassion to make a flower bed and the live cable was laid under the turf, luckily for me it was me who got the shock and not the gardener, had she been killed I guess that I would be responsible and paying dearly.

which I hope that the contractor in this sad case has to face

Edited October 3, 2012 by DD13

[reggaebkk]

dam_n! I can't count the number of times my fiancé went under the staircase to fix the pump in the restaurant we had in Ko Chang... pump plugged, feet in the water, barefoot... Playing with electric parts with his screwdriver... Dozens of times... I guess some are lucky and some are not.

I won't ever let him try that again though.

[sydneyjed]

So many places are potential death traps..Remember the tourist who touched the metal railing on the bridge over the swimming pool at a 5* hotel in Phuket last year..or the young lad who stood on the metal plate outside the shopping mall in Phuket also?Bloody scarey when you think about it!!

[Fatherfluffybottom]

RIP very sad news

[Siriam]

RIP

[transam]

A lesson for all reading here. Switch OFF the main breaker before doing ANY electrical stuff here, no matter how small or big the appliance.

RIP brother. Trans

[hgma]

Tragic indeed.

just about to start a new life

my sincere condolences to family and love ones.

[cup-O-coffee]

So sad. What really gets me is that this man went ahead and did this. There must have been a little voice in the back of his head when he saw the wires and water. Most foreigners know about these things and simply shy away from them. dam_n! This is just terrible and I feel embarrassed over this deadly mistake.

[midasthailand]

A very sad story and one which ALL should heed! Never work on live equipment! RIP and condolences to his wife and family. How terrible for the poor woman to see her husband electrocuted in front of her, especially since she had asked him to wait for the technician, now she will spend a long time second guessing herself... could she have stopped him?

[montereyjp]

RIP and as a long time expat in LOS I stay away from any wires I see hanging in the street or anywhere as often they are live... I never touch the electrical stuff at my house if can be avoided as things like proper grounding are often ignored or not done properly. Electrical installations are so poorly done in most places in Thailand I find myself constantly assessing the situation even when it is as simple as flipping a light switch in a restaurant bathroom. Very sad story indeed and the lesson here is never touch anything metal while standing in water as in this case somehow the pipe was at 220Vac and he was the ground to earth through the standing water.... Be careful out there...

[Farangdam]

RIP

water pump, water heater, shower heater, automatic door gate...danger seek the pro asistant

[johnopolo]

Everyone here has a lot to say about the "poor electrical work in Thailand" but all of them have overlooked the fact that it is THEIR responsibility to ensure that THEIR house or THEIR premises are safe. Not to mention that all the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable when it come to (after the fact) electrics - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

[Arkady]

With the flooding season upon us again it is worth remembering that many of the drownings reported during last year's floods were in fact electrocutions. Since the authorities didn't want to cause undue panic, most electrocutions that weren't actually witnessed and reported as such were classified as drownings, despite evidence to the contrary on bodies or the likelihood that they drowned as a result of being stunned first by electricity.

[transam]

Everyone here has a lot to say about the "poor electrical work in Thailand" but all of them have overlooked the fact that it is THEIR responsibility to ensure that THEIR house or THEIR premises are safe. Not to mention that all the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable when it come to (after the fact) electrics - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

Some, the deceased, may not have had a clue about electrics. The fitters of the stuff should have, BUT they don't.

[Estrada]

Condolences to his wife, family & friends. I opened a restaurant with my Thai wife and still remember the joy and excitement of embarking on a business venture together. I'm sure the deceased wife will be devastated - very sad news.

The Wife is deceased!? Don't you mean "the deceased's wife"?

[Dararasmi]

Sad. My condolences. He really should have waited for the qualified technician to arrive...so he could have died instead. (Rubber sandals are good insulators...to a point.)

[Arkady]

"He was warned by his wife not to enter and wait for a qualified technician to arrive."

I don't doubt that qualified technicians exist in Thailand and there are certainly plenty of kids studying these subjects at vocational schools. However, in my experience most of the electricians don't have any formal qualifications. My experiences with people like qualified, electricians, architects, civil engineers etc in Thailand suggest that it can't be too difficult to obtain these qualifications here and that often unqualified contractors do a better and safer job. I got some electricians moonlighting from EGAT to do some rewiring at my house and they did a terrible, dangerous job that had to be redone properly by an unqualified but experienced and conscientious electrician.

Anyway I certainly wait for whoever to arrive. At least they will get the first bolt, if they screw up badly.

Edited October 3, 2012 by Arkady

[webfact]

Ex Pat Brit electrocuted in new business venture

By Staff Reporter

PATTAYA: -- A British Ex Pat was killed in an electrical accident in his new business premises

Tim Jackson, a 49 year old British Ex Pat was busy helping his wife in readiness to open their new restaurant, when they both noticed an electrical problem in the building.

The business, which has yet to open, was still in the setup phase, as new equipment and furnishings were being installed in preparation for the big day. Mr. Jackson is said to have been concerned at the failure of the water booster pump and decided to investigate.

Despite his wife’s warning that they were better to wait for a qualified electrician, he went ahead and into the cupboard under the stairway, similar in size to the under stair rest rooms in many shophouses , which is reported to have had water on the floor from a leak at the pump. It was there that he suffered a fatal electric shock.

His wife called the emergency services who failed to revive him, as did the Hospital.

Water and electricity make a dangerous cocktail at any time and European electricians who have inspected Local methods of wiring have warned us that, as foreigners, we are used to having earth/ground connections along with circuit breakers that are matched to current useage.

Full story: http://www.pattaya103.com/ex-pat-brit-electrocuted-in-new-business-venture/

-- pattaya103.com 2012-10-03

[johnopolo]

Everyone here has a lot to say about the "poor electrical work in Thailand" but all of them have overlooked the fact that it is THEIR responsibility to ensure that THEIR house or THEIR premises are safe. Not to mention that all the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable when it come to (after the fact) electrics - yet NOT ONE has mentioned the one inexpensive little device that could have saved ALL of those lives. It's called an Earth Leakage Relay - or a Residual Current Device. Look it up - and if you don't have one installed, then install one immediately. Before we have to type in yet another RIP!

Some, the deceased, may not have had a clue about electrics. The fitters of the stuff should have, BUT they don't.

Perhaps so, but it's apparently "common knowledge" how "useless and incompetent Thai electricians are" - so everyone should already be forewarned! Nevertheless, as of now, anyone who reads this lot doesn't have an excuse. Get an ELR fitted IMMEDIATELY!

[hotandhumid]

I assume he was trying to save some money by doing it himself. Next time call in the professionals, it may just save your life, that is my advice.

H&H

[laobali]

There but for the grace of ... go I, when I think of the pumps and showers I've installed or replaced over the past 15 years in Thailand, Bali and Laos, but I do remember to turn the mains off before touching wires and have a decent flashlight handy if needed.

If it was a new 'qualified' installation, I would have called the guy back to fix it. However, 'qualified' often means someone who has watched the boss from over his shoulder long enough before going out on his own. Apart from the difficulty in finding these 'technicians', their work often leaves us 'unqualified' people thinking " I could have done it better myself; next time I will."

Edited October 3, 2012 by laobali

[EarthAlien]

A very sad story, my condolences to his wife and his UK family

It is a lesson for all of us, from what I have seen in properties, Thai electrical work is on a par with the Spannish in the eighties.

No earthing ties on the water pipes, switches in bathrooms etc. are common (in reach of taps/showers etc.), switches outside in the rain, the list goes on

I dug into my lawn on one occassion to make a flower bed and the live cable was laid under the turf, luckily for me it was me who got the shock and not the gardener, had she been killed I guess that I would be responsible and paying dearly.

which I hope that the contractor in this sad case has to face

Same thing happened at our house. The front gate lights on the left side had stopped working and so the genius team of technicians (nust have been 5 of them) sent by the estate management decided to run a cable (call it a 2 core wire) from the left side of the house to the front and had set up an elaborate network of conduit and angle brackets to take the power cable to the front. Great job guys,.. the lights worked but I discovered when it rained that the conduit rose to the surface as it had been patched over with sandwich layer of dirt and turf. An accident waiting to happen so I switched off the power and ripped it all up and sealed the source. Now the front lights dont work again but at least the kids and the gardeners are safe in the front yard.

Things like this and stories such as these really make me wonder about the wisdom of staying here!

[EarthAlien]

I assume he was trying to save some money by doing it himself. Next time call in the professionals, it may just save your life, that is my advice.

H&H

"professionals" (electricians) in Thailand,.. when you find their number can you please post it here as I've been searching for them for years but never found!

[hotandhumid]

I assume he was trying to save some money by doing it himself. Next time call in the professionals, it may just save your life, that is my advice.

H&H

"professionals" (electricians) in Thailand,.. when you find their number can you please post it here as I've been searching for them for years but never found!

You can find them!

[TheFishman1]

RIP

[Chopperboy]

There are a few ferang Expat electrical contractors who will do a proper install to BS/ Euro standards.

All with earthing/ bonding correct cable ratings and protection etc.

The cost is quite a lot more but at the end of the day...

PM me if you want a contact number - I know of 4 ferang contractors, perhaps others know of more.

[HUAHIN62]

Sympathy to the wife and family. Anyone that buy property in Thailand please spend the B 3000 or B 4000 and install a earth leakage breaker. Mine saved my bud yesterday when I stalled a photocell.