1. Make the effort to be genuinely aware

Awareness is the foundation of every other step. The risks from white goods appliances are real and they happen in ordinary homes – not just in unusual circumstances. Understanding those risks is the first step to reducing them.

One of the most consistent patterns in appliance fire incidents is that the risk was known but not acted on. Being aware is not enough on its own – awareness has to translate into behaviour. Take notice of reports of appliance incidents. Look for what went wrong and ask whether the same situation could arise in your home.

Charging devices is one area where incidents are frequently reported. The risk from a faulty or counterfeit charger may be difficult to eliminate entirely, but the consequences can be dramatically reduced by never charging a device on or next to flammable surfaces, and never leaving something charging in an empty house. Avoid overloading wall sockets – our guide on extension sockets and adaptors with high-load appliances covers why this matters.

2. Never leave appliances running unattended

An appliance fire in an empty house, or while occupants are asleep, is dramatically more damaging than one that is discovered straight away. With no one present to smell smoke or notice a problem, a small electrical fault can develop into a full kitchen or house fire before any alert is possible.

Washing machines, tumble dryers, and dishwashers do not need to run unattended. Doing so is purely a matter of convenience – it is never a necessity. The probability of something going wrong on any given cycle is low, but the consequence of it happening with nobody present is potentially catastrophic. Thousands of UK homes are damaged or destroyed by appliance fires every year.

See the full guide on the risks of leaving a washing machine or tumble dryer running when out or in bed, and our coverage of dishwasher fire risks.

3. Always read the instruction manual

User error and failure to follow manufacturer instructions is a leading cause of appliance incidents in several categories. Modern white goods are substantially more complex than previous generations – more components, more operating modes, more maintenance requirements. The manuals reflect this.

Many manuals contain serious safety warnings that most owners never read. As one example, a standard tumble dryer manual includes the following warning.

If the drying programme is interrupted before the end of the cooling-down phase, this could cause the laundry to self-ignite.

Standard tumble dryer instruction manual

That is an extremely serious warning – laundry that can catch fire after the cycle has stopped – buried among routine instructions with no special prominence. Not reading it could have catastrophic consequences. Our related guide on whether a tumble dryer can catch fire when unplugged covers the same risk in more detail.

Manufacturers could do more to make critical safety information prominent. Until they do, reading the manual carefully is the owner’s responsibility. For an appliance you have owned for a while, re-reading the manual is often worthwhile – it is common to find important information that was not absorbed at installation. Lost the manual? See our list of where to download white goods instruction manuals.

4. Fit smoke or heat alarms near appliances

Smoke alarms give the earliest possible warning of a developing fire. Being alerted even a few minutes sooner can be the difference between a manageable incident and a serious one. Smoke alarms near washing machines, tumble dryers, and dishwashers make particular sense.

Kitchens are problematic for standard smoke alarms because cooking produces smoke and steam that trigger false alarms. Heat alarms, which respond to temperature rather than smoke, are designed for kitchen use and are the practical choice in that room. The UK Fire Service publishes guidance on choosing and placing alarms correctly: UK Fire Service smoke alarm advice.

Smoke alarms are not a reason to leave appliances running at night. The right approach is simply not to run washing machines, tumble dryers, or dishwashers overnight in the first place.

5. Keep a fire extinguisher near appliances

Being alerted to a fire early is far more useful when there is something at hand to tackle it. A small extinguisher suitable for electrical fires, placed in the kitchen or utility room, makes it possible to address a small contained fire before it develops – rather than simply evacuating and waiting for the fire brigade.

Home fire extinguishers are relatively inexpensive, last for many years, and need almost no ongoing maintenance other than a periodic check that the pressure gauge is in the green zone. For most households, a CO₂ extinguisher is the right choice for electrical appliance fires.

See our full guide on home fire extinguishers near appliances for the practical detail on type, size, and placement.

6. Register every new appliance with the manufacturer

Registering a new appliance is one of the most important steps an owner can take – and one of the most commonly skipped. When manufacturers later discover a serious safety issue, sometimes years after sale, they need to be able to reach owners directly.

Without registration, there is no reliable way for the manufacturer to contact owners of affected products. Safety notices are publicised through retailers, the media, and sites like Whitegoods Help, but direct manufacturer contact is the most certain way of finding out about a recall on an appliance you own.

See our full guide on whether you should register your appliance guarantee for what the registration process actually involves and what data is collected.

7. Stay informed about safety notices and product recalls

New safety notices are issued regularly. Staying aware of them means finding out quickly if an appliance you already own has a known safety problem – so it can be stopped, repaired, or replaced before an incident.

Several UK databases let residents register for product recall and safety notice notifications. The Electrical Safety First product recalls register is a comprehensive and authoritative resource: Electrical Safety First product recalls and safety notices.

Whitegoods Help also publishes safety notices as they are identified – see the full appliance safety notices page for the current list across washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fridges, and cooking appliances.

8. Check all known safety notices today

Before any incident happens, spend a few minutes checking the current safety notices to see whether any appliance already in use is known to have a fault. Cross-reference these resources against the model and serial numbers of every washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, fridge, and hob in your home.

• 
  Whitegoods Help safety notices page. See the full list of all appliance safety notices covering current and historical UK recalls.
• 
  Electrical Safety First product recalls. The Electrical Safety First database covers electrical appliance recalls across all categories.
• 
  Tumble dryer safety notices. Tumble dryers carry a higher inherent fire risk – see the dedicated list of tumble dryer fire-risk safety notices.
• 
  DIY repair safety. If a fault is found that you intend to investigate yourself, read the DIY repair safety advice first.
• 
  Part 1 of this series. Read how dangerous are our appliances? for the wider context behind these eight steps.

Frequently asked questions

Fires, Explosions, and Injuries – the Scale of the Problem

Electrical appliances are routinely catching fire, exploding, injuring, and in some cases killing people. This is not a rare occurrence. It is happening in ordinary homes across the UK every week. White goods appliances – washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, fridge freezers – are among the most common causes.

In recent years, millions of tumble dryers were found to have a potential fire risk – see tumble dryer fire risk notices. Fridge freezers have caused fires. Dishwashers have caught fire. The door glass on some washing machines has shattered dangerously – see exploding door glass danger. Inner washing machine drums have also been known to fail catastrophically – see washing machine drum explosions. In 2016, Samsung recalled 2.8 million top-loading washing machines in the US following reports of drum failures: BBC News – Samsung washing machine recall.

These are not isolated or unusual events. They are part of a pattern that affects a wide range of electrical products across many categories.

The Facts and Statistics

The scale of the problem is larger than most people realise. Statistics published by Electrical Safety First for a single year (2011/12) recorded approximately 13,000 fires caused by white goods appliances in the UK – equivalent to around 250 fires every week. Those fires were responsible for 10 deaths and over 1,600 injuries in that year alone.

Data collated between 2011 and 2014 by the UK Government and quoted by Which? found that white goods accounted for 55% of all house fires. That makes white goods appliances the single most common cause of house fires in the UK (note: the full Which? article is available to subscribers).

In the same period, tumble dryers alone were linked to 3 deaths and over 300 injuries.

These figures reflect reported incidents only.

A significant proportion of appliance fire incidents go unreported nationally. The actual number of fires, injuries, and near-misses is considerably higher than official statistics capture.

Why Most People Are Not Aware of the Risk

Appliance fires and injuries affect a relatively small percentage of the population in any given year. Because most people have not experienced one personally, and because incidents are often reported locally rather than nationally, the cumulative scale of the problem is not well understood.

This lack of awareness has direct consequences. People who do not understand the risk are more likely to leave appliances running unattended, skip reading instruction manuals, ignore safety notices, and use appliances in ways that increase the likelihood of an incident. Awareness is not just interesting information – it changes behaviour in ways that genuinely reduce risk.

User Behaviour Is a Major Factor

This is not an article about assigning blame – it is about identifying where risk can realistically be reduced. A substantial proportion of appliance incidents, potentially the majority, might have been avoided if the user had been more aware or had followed manufacturer instructions correctly.

Responsibility for appliance safety is shared. Manufacturers have an obligation to build safe products and to issue clear safety warnings. Governments have a role in regulation and enforcement. But users also have a significant influence over the level of risk they are exposed to in their own homes – and that influence is often not exercised.

The good news is that many of the most effective risk reduction steps cost nothing and require only a modest change in habit. These are covered in detail in Part 2 of this series.

Fridges and Freezers: A Special Case

Most white goods appliances can be switched off when not in use – washing machines, tumble dryers, and dishwashers do not need to run overnight or when the house is empty. Fridge freezers are different: they must run continuously to preserve food safely. This means the risk from a fridge freezer cannot be managed in the same way.

Keeping a suitable fire extinguisher close to hand in the kitchen, and ensuring smoke alarms are tested and maintained, are the most practical mitigations for the risk posed by continuously running appliances. See: home fire extinguishers near appliances.

Frequently Asked Questions