Man dies after charging his iPhone while using it in the bath


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A British man was fatally electrocuted as a result of charging an iPhone while he was using it in the bath, a coroner has recorded. The coroner warned of the dangers of using electrical devices in bathrooms, and said that he would be writing to Apple about the case …

The tragedy appears to have occurred because Richard Bull ran an extension cord from a plug socket outside the bathroom and placed the charger on his chest while using the phone, reports the Daily Mail.

PC Craig Pattison told the inquest at West London Coroner’s Court how he found the extension lead running from the hallway outside into the bathroom.’

 

‘We found an iPhone plugged into the extension cable and then the charger element in the bath,’ he explained. ‘The extension cable was on the floor and it appeared as though he had his phone charger on his chest and the part between the phone charger and the cable had made contact with the water.’

The coroner said that manufacturers should warn of the danger, and that he would be writing a report to send to Apple.

 

At an inquest into his death the coroner issued a warning about using the ‘innocuous devices’ which can be ‘as dangerous as a hairdryer in a bathroom.’ Recording a verdict of accidental death, Dr Sean Cummings said: ‘These seem like innocuous devices but can be as dangerous as a hairdryer in a bathroom. ‘They should attach warnings. I intend to write a report later to the makers of the phone.’

 

In this particular case, it appears that placing the charger – which carries mains voltage – in a position where it was likely to come into contact with water was the cause. Using the supplied Apple charger in this way would have also required the mains extension to be on his chest, while using an iPad charger would have allowed the extension to remain on the floor, as appears to be the case here. But using any device connected to mains power in a bath is obviously not a smart idea.

 

https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/20/man-killed-iphone-charger-bath/

 

i'm speechless 

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4 minutes ago, Crisp said:

How come the fuse didnt trip?

Fuses take time to trip, which I'm sure it did eventually.  Enough current across your heart will kill you instantly, which obviously outpaces the circuit breaker.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Mother Nature's way of thinning out the herd.

She needs to be a little more stringent in her thinning algorithm, IMO.

However, simply put, there are some people  - who just dont get the basics.  Therefore, they need to be taken out of the equation before tampering with the status quo.  This is one of those times.

But - if you think about it - the fuse usually kills the connections after the issue has occurred.

Some chargers have as much as 3 amps in the US...

 

 

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You know, I knew from about 8 years old that electricity in the bathroom was a big no-no.  Not being callous, but I don't think the world has suffered an intellectual loss here!

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Quote

should attach warnings.

They should also attach a warning about reading and understanding the warnings. And then another warning about reading and understanding the warning about the warnings.

 

smh.

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On 3/20/2017 at 3:56 PM, Crisp said:

How come the fuse didnt trip?

The extension cord was probably plugged into a non-GFCI outlet, as it was outside the bathroom, which are typically required in areas where water is present, like a bathroom, for this very reason. The breaker would eventually trip, but not soon enough. GFCIs might of saved his life, but it doesn't take a lot of time to die from a zap. Guy apparently lacked common sense. Not sure why the corner is writing a letter to apple? 

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People make silly mistakes all the time. Who knows. Maybe he was impaired and used poor judgment. Unfortunately, this mistake cost him his life.

 

I wonder if it was an iPhone 7 and he thought since it was 'water resistant' that he would be okay.

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Not quite sure why they feel the need to involve Apple here at all. This guy was an idiot, and has nobody to blame but himself

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