Electrical Safety Tips
In your home:
- Turn main power off before replacing a fuse or adjusting circuit breakers.
- Install outlets with a ground fault interrupter (GFI) wherever water/moisture is nearby.
- Never pull a plug out by the cord.
- Check wires, extension cords and appliances for signs of wear on a regular basis.
- Always use 3-pronged plugs where appliances and power tools have three wires.
- Don’t plug too many appliances into one outlet.
- Put child plastic safety caps in all unused electrical outlets in your home.
- Never touch appliances, wires or electrical switches with wet hands or feet.
- Never use any electrical appliance in the tub, shower orÂ sink.
- Disconnect appliances before cleaning.
- Turn your T.V. and other appliances off during a thunderstorm.
- To avoid scalds to your skin, set your water heater at the “medium” setting. Always test the water before placing an infant in the tub.
- Make sure all your appliances have an approved CSA (Canadian Standards Association)Â label.
- Don’t use water to put out an electrical fire. Use a fire extinguisher or baking soda.
Outside your home:
- When working our playing near power lines, always be extremely careful. A line flowing with less than 750 volts is capable of injuring or killing someone who comes into contact with it.
- When you are carrying long tools, ladders or operating equipment of any height, be careful to avoid all contact with overhead lines. If you do strike a power line, remain on the equipment. By getting off the equipment, you create a path to the ground for the electricity to follow and this could be fatal.
- Don’t touch someone who has been struck or the equipment, while still in contact with live power lines.
- Never climb a fence that is protecting electrical equipment to retrieve something that has gone over it. Those fences are there for a reason. Only trained electrical professionals should be in contact with any kind of hydro equipment.
- Never touch wires that may have come down. They may be alive! If a wire falls on your vehicle while you are in it, stay inside. The car and the ground around it may be electrified.
- Never fly a kite near overhead power lines. Touching an overhead wire with any part of a kite could cause injury or death.
- If caught outside during an electrical storm, stay away from open areas and trees. If you can, go indoors. Never swim during an electrical storm as water is an excellent conductor for electricity.
- Call Before You Dig – It’s the Law!!
Child Safety Tips
- Never touch electrical outlets with your fingers orÂ objects.
- Do not put your fingers in a light bulb socket.
- Never play with electrical cords, wires or switches and keep them away from heat and water.
- Don’t place electrical cords where people may trip on them.
- Don’t pull on cords to unplug them, take of plug and pull from outlet.
- Never play around electrical wires or equipment
- If you are in the bathtub, shower or standing on a wet floor, never touch anything electrical like a light switch or hair dryer.
- Never climb utility poles, transmission towers or fences around substations.
- Stay away from areas marked “DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE”
- Keep away from electrical utility boxes (those large green boxes). They contain high-voltage equipment that can kill you if you play with them.
- If climbing a tree, stay away from those that are near power lines.
- Never throw objects at wires or hydro poles.
- Never poke wires or branches into electrical equipment boxes
- Keep your kite away from power lines.
- Never use wire or metal on kites.
- If your kite does happen to get caught on a hydro line, please leave it alone and call or have an adult call us at 326-7315.
- If there is a thunderstorm, do not go under a tree lightning can strike you through the tree. Go indoors.
- If power lines have fallen on your car, stay in the car because the rubber tires on your car stop the electricity from passing through it.
- In the winter, especially after heavy snowfalls when the plows bank the snow high, be careful on the banks under power lines – the high banks can get very close to live power lines.
Remember – electricity always takes the path easiest to the ground and we don’t want that path to be you!!
A Proud Sponsor of