May is National Electrical Safety Month

/ Cooperative News, Safety & Security / 4 minutes of reading

What is National Electrical Safety Month?

The Elec­tri­cal Safe­ty Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tion­al (ESFI) is a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed exclu­sive­ly to pro­mot­ing elec­tri­cal safe­ty at home and in the work­place. To com­mem­o­rate Nation­al Elec­tri­cal Safe­ty Month each May, ESFI spear­heads an annu­al cam­paign to edu­cate key audi­ences about the steps that can be tak­en to reduce the num­ber of elec­tri­cal­ly relat­ed fires, fatal­i­ties, injuries, and prop­er­ty loss.

We’re proud to bring you some of the excel­lent, free-to-use infor­ma­tion­al resources ESFI pro­vides, and we encour­age you to explore more at the ESFI web­site.

 

Infographic about hurricane electrical safety, detailing preparation, weather adaptation, and recovery tips, including hurricane categories and their associated damages.Hurricane Safety

The Atlantic hur­ri­cane sea­son is June to Novem­ber, with the peak sea­son from mid-August to late Octo­ber, so now is the time to get pre­pared.

Pre­pare for the storm

  • Charge all phone and com­mu­ni­ca­tions devices
  • Unplug all elec­tron­ics and move them as high as pos­si­ble
  • If rec­om­mend­ed by util­i­ties or emer­gency offices, turn off break­ers to avoid pow­er surges

Weath­er the storm

  • Stay indoors dur­ing hur­ri­canes and away from win­dows and glass
  • Nev­er oper­ate a portable gen­er­a­tor inside your home
  • Nev­er con­nect a gen­er­a­tor direct­ly into your home’s wiring unless a trans­fer switch has been installed
  • Always use GFCIs in areas where water and elec­tric­i­ty may come in con­tact

Recover from the storm

  • Do not use elec­tri­cal equip­ment and elec­tron­ics, includ­ing recep­ta­cles, that have been sub­merged in water
  • Have a qual­i­fied elec­tri­cian inspect any water-dam­aged elec­tri­cal equip­ment and elec­tron­ics
  • Stay away from downed pow­er lines. If you encounter a downed pow­er line, stay at least 35 feet away and do not touch the line or any­thing that may be in con­tact with the line

 

Use Backup Power Safely

When used prop­er­ly, portable and stand­by gen­er­a­tors are a great option to pro­vide back­up pow­er dur­ing brownouts or black­outs. Learn how to use gen­er­a­tors safe­ly with the fol­low­ing tips:

  • Loca­tion
    • Always keep gen­er­a­tors at least 20 feet away from your home
    • Nev­er oper­ate a gen­er­a­tor in an enclosed space
    • Make sure the gen­er­a­tor has 3–4 feet of clear space above and on all sides for prop­er ven­ti­la­tion
    • Keep gen­er­a­tors away from door, win­dows, and vents
    • Always direct exhaust away from your home
  • Use
    • Always use ground­ed cords and inspect cords for dam­age pri­or to use
    • Use the prop­er cord for the wattage being used
    • Always use GFCI pro­tec­tion
    • Make sure to start/stop the gen­er­a­tor when no elec­tri­cal loads are con­nect­ed
    • Keep gen­er­a­tors dry, do not oper­ate when wet, and refu­el when cool
    • Do not over­load gen­er­a­tors
    • Do not plug a gen­er­a­tor direct­ly into your home, con­nect items being pow­ered direct­ly to the gen­er­a­tor

Transfer Switches

  • Trans­fer switch­es whether man­u­al or auto­mat­ic, allow you to choose between util­i­ty pow­er or back­up gen­er­a­tor pow­er
  • Trans­fer switch­es are the only way to safe­ly pow­er your home’s elec­tri­cal sys­tem
  • Using a trans­fer switch pre­vents back­feed­ing. This occurs when your gen­er­a­tor becomes a pow­er source for the sur­round­ing area and can dam­age your home, your neighbor’s home, and injure work­ers try­ing to restore pow­er

Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning Prevention

  • Improp­er use and instal­la­tion of gen­er­a­tors could cause CO poi­son­ing
  • Make sure your home has car­bon monox­ide alarms out­side each sleep­ing area and on every lev­el of the home
  • CO can kill in as lit­tle as 5 min­utes
  • Symp­toms of CO poi­son­ing
    • Dizzi­ness
    • Headaches
    • Nau­sea
    • Tired­ness
  • If you expe­ri­ence CO poi­son­ing sys­tems, get fresh air, do not reen­ter areas, and call 911

Downed Power Lines

Infographic on downed power lines, emphasizing safety precautions: stay 35 feet away, call 911, and shuffle feet if evacuating.

Downed pow­er lines can be dead­ly. ALWAYS assume a downed pow­er line is live and avoid going near it or any­thing in con­tact with it.

Use Precaution

  • Downed pow­er lines can ener­gize the ground up to 35 feet away. Even more in wet con­di­tions.
  • Nev­er dri­ve over downed pow­er lines or through water that is in con­tact with them
  • Nev­er try to move a downed pow­er line. Even using items that typ­i­cal­ly are not con­duc­tive will not pre­vent injury or death
  • If you see a downed line call 911

If a vehicle contacts a power line or utility pole stay away and call 911

  • Con­sid­er all lines to be live and dan­ger­ous
  • Stay in place or inside your vehi­cle unless you see fire or smoke
  • Warn oth­ers to stay at least 35 feet away
  • Tell oth­ers not to approach the vehi­cle, downed lines, or any­thing that may be in con­tact with downed lines
  • Call 911

In the Event of Fire or Smoke

  • Do not touch the ground and vehi­cle at the same time
  • Jump from the vehi­cle with your feet togeth­er
  • Shuf­fle away, avoid lift­ing your feet

Along Those Lines...

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