By earthing, do you mean wiring?

If they live in the UK they should contact the building owner (whether it be council or private owner) or the local electrical authority.

There is no quick and easy fix, although many have suggested some, to this problem.
Act quickly before you or a loved one is guest of honour at a funeral.

The smartest thing to do is to make sure you:
grab the rubber or plastic parts of appliances - rubber and plastic are non-conductive
wear rubber sole slippers or shoes to prevent the passage of current.
use one hand only when handling electrical appliances - no path to ground.

When dealing with electricity, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[quote Anonymous][quote ronrumpf]What makes you think your apartment is not properly grounded? How did you check it? Can you measure any potential between the common line and water pipe ground?Ron[/quote]Here in Michigan ron, a person can not use a water pipe to “ground”. Here in Michigan we have to use an “electrical grounding stake”. Supposedly it is to reduce the potential for electrocution. All house wiring in the USA has a “common neutral” and two hot lines. As much as people think the third wire is a ground, it is not, it is a “neutral” wire. “Ground” wire is just that a true “Earth ground”. There is a LED display tool that can tell a person can buy that will display if the wiring is done correctly. If it is done correct all three lights will light up. If not then the display will show which wire is wrong on the electrical plug-in the socket. Costs about $20.00 (USD). It can be bought at most hardware stores, Lowes, Home depots, Radio Shacks, pretty much all over[/quote]

neku you should be able to do that from the sockets within your apartment. Also what I informed ron about a socket checking plug uses a LED to display whether a plug is wired right. I do not know where you live.

I fixed one apartment were I lived one time. Kept having a circuit breaker kicking out (blowing out), I only had one item on it, my TV. I had asked the management to get it repaired. They stalled, I eventually to management that I was (and I was for real) insured with rents insurance. That if my apartment burned down I would be covered and I would have to then it over to my insurance company and tell them about the potential electrical fire hazard (because the circuit breaker would get hot and kick out). Two weeks later the commercial electrician came in, I asked him if the wiring was Aluminum (this apartment complex was built in ‘62′ when they used Aluminum wiring). He told me no, until he got into the box, then he told me it was Aluminum wiring. So he re-tightened all of the connections. That fixed it. The reason they no longer use Aluminum for wiring is because the fire hazard. The Aluminum wire needs a different contact then copper wire, if they don’t have that special Aluminum contact, the wire suffers from the physical vibration and loosens up the contact.

Ron[/quote]

Here in Michigan ron, a person can not use a water pipe to “ground”. Here in Michigan we have to use an “electrical grounding stake”. Supposedly it is to reduce the potential for electrocution. All house wiring in the USA has a “common neutral” and two hot lines. As much as people think the third wire is a ground, it is not, it is a “neutral” wire. “Ground” wire is just that a true “Earth ground”. There is a LED display tool that can tell a person can buy that will display if the wiring is done correctly. If it is done correct all three lights will light up. If not then the display will show which wire is wrong on the electrical plug-in the socket. Costs about $20.00 (USD). It can be bought at most hardware stores, Lowes, Home depots, Radio Shacks, pretty much all over

(1) Call your local electricity company. They will send out a worker to inspect the building and it’s compliance with county or city codes, including the electrical hook-ups and main breaker system. If there is something wrong with them to the extent that the building must be shut down until the landlord fixes the problem, then you may be out of a home. Normally the case isn’t so.

(2) Wrap every cord you have plugged in permanently (or even semi-permanently) in electrical tape (comes in all different colors not just black at the home supply store). Wrap the plugged end of the cord from 1/2″ below the female end, all the way up and over completely covering any space between the socket and the plug. This will nearly stop all shocks and “zzzzzbt”s until the time you move and find a safer living situation or have the electric company take a look at your apartment.

This may just be an isolated incident.

Ron