Three hundred potentially dangerous electric blankets have been taken out of circulation this winter, thanks to free electric blanket safety tests, offered by Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards department.

Having secured funding from the Electrical Safety Council's Fire Safety Fund; the council's Trading Standards service was able to hold more testing events across the county than ever before.

In total, 564 blankets were tested throughout late October and early November.
Around 54% of all those blankets tested failed the checks, but thanks to the funding that the County Council secured from the Electrical Safety Council, 240 replacement electric blankets were issued to residents who actively still used their blanket and which failed the safety checks.

A breakdown of results per location of event is as follows:

Attleborough - 65 tested. 29 passed. 36 failed - a failure rate of 55%
Cromer - 60 tested. 30 passed. 30 failed - a failure rate of 50%
Diss - 44 tested. 22 passed. 22 failed - a failure rate of 50%
Downham Market - 54 tested. 27 passed. 27 failed - a failure rate of 50%
Fakenham - 67 tested. 26 passed. 41 failed - a failure rate of 61%
Great Yarmouth - 54 tested. 31 passed. 23 failed - a failure rate of 43%
King's Lynn - 29 tested. 12 passed. 17 failed - a failure rate of 58%
North Walsham - 56 tested. 31 passed. 23 failed - a failure rate of 43%
Norwich - 114 tested. 49 passed. 65 failed - a failure rate of 57%
Swaffham (drop off point) - 10 tested. 3 passed. 7 failed - a failure rate of 70%.
Thetford (drop off point) - 11 tested. 3 passed. 8 failed - a failure rate of 73%

Harry Humphrey, Norfolk County Council's Cabinet member for Community Protection, said:

"Thanks to an effective County Council bid for funding from the Electrical Safety Council, residents whose blanket failed the checks were able to get a replacement free of charge.

"An electric blanket can be invaluable during the winter months and I'm pleased that, through our test events, so many residents can be assured that their blanket is safe to use this winter.

"Owners of electric blankets should always refer to the manufacturers’ recommendations about using them and also any recommendation regarding the need to have them periodically checked for safety."