Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): On 17 December 2021, a house painter was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital after an air-conditioning cable electrocuted him while he was painting the walls inside a house. He was electrocuted and fell off his ladder hitting the tiled floor.
The above incident happened at 10:30am in House No. B2-8, Trapeang Thleung 3 Village, Sangkat Choam Chao I, Khan Por Senchey, Phnom Penh.

According to the woman of the house, a group of workmen including the victim came to make repairs and paint the walls of the house. The victim went in the house to paint the walls alone, while the other workmen were repairing the front of the house. Suddenly they heard heard a loud bang, fire, and shouts calling for the victim to be buried with sand and for first aid. Doctors said the victim lost his life because he was electrocuted and fell to the ground, hitting his head on the floor.

Police of Choam Chao I went to the scene with the owner of the house, and the deceased is currently is being kept in the morgue at the Khmer-Russian hospital while they search for the family to receive the corpse for funerary rites. RIP.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 18, 2021 3:35 pm Are these routine deaths from electrocution a result of no earth wires being part of the system?

Am I right in thinking that when you touch an appliance that is 'live', you become the earth? And until the 16Amp+ A/C circuit breaker exceeds that load, you cop the lot.

We’ve recently moved to Tuol Sangke, following all the stupidity with the electricity issues at the last apartment.

One major positive of this new place is the largely unmolested electrics. I’ve still had to go around and sort some faults, but I’d rather do those small jobs myself. I’ve found some most interesting variations in wiring while doing so:
Socket/Switch points- brand new in the box, these may have been assembled incorrectly, with some having the Neutral terminals uppermost, and some in the lower position. To some extent, this doesn’t make much difference, unless someone wires something by using the terminal names and not the positions.
Bundles of Wires twisted together inside the box, but not insulated.

The owners of the new apartment kindly installed an electric shower. The fitter/electrician didn’t bother with the instructions and warning labels, which clearly stated that No metal or Chromed fittings shall be used with this (well known brand) shower. So he proceeded to use the nice chrome shower head and flex hose until I pointed him in the right direction.
The shower was installed by wiring into the lighting circuit that’s passing through the bathroom. Not that it matters much; the lightning and power outlets are not isolated circuits.
Most of the work was done with the electrics live, while standing in freshly created puddles.

At the same time, in the main bedroom, an aircon unit was being installed to replace one that was removed by the previous tenants when they left. The new unit has been mounted so that the wiring between the two main components reaches. The original wiring has been chopped a bit short. The other option offered was that they could tape/splice in a short extra piece.
Checking whether the wiring is live before installation being done with a screwdriver blade touching across the bare ends.


At this stage, I’m somewhat at a loss to explain why there aren’t more fatalities involving electrics. As for the sand burials, that’s just so utterly negligent. It’s hard to express how screwed up these things are. And senseless. But I’m told frequently that barang and khmer not the same. Cost of a life?