12 Electrical Safety Tips To Keep You Safe At Home

It won’t be an understatement to say that most of Perth were shocked and saddened to hear the news of Denisha Woods, an eleven-year-old girl who was electrocuted outside her home when she went to turn off the garden tap on that fateful day on 3rd March 2018.

We’re glad that she’s finally able to return home and be with family as she continues her recovery, but its left many of us wondering if we or our loved ones could potentially become victims ourselves to the 240 volts of electrical current that run through our homes every single day.

Generally, we are well and safe as long as the proper electrical safety mechanisms such as fuses, circuit breakers, etc are in place and we stay vigilant (not foolhardy) when working around electricity and electrical applicances.

Should I DIY?

While it is always tempting to just “do it yourself” when it comes to electrical work to save a few bucks, nearly all electrical problems requires a qualified and licensed electrician to solve them. This is to be sure that it is done in a safe, responsible and reliable way.

An average of 15 people are killed and a further 300 hospitalised in preventable electrical accidents each year in Australia. While we may feel that this number is small, that’s 15 lives lost that could have been prevented.

For your own safety, we recommend that you do not try to do any of the following yourself:

• Repair any electrical appliances
• Replace a power point or light switch
• Change any pre-existing electrical wiring
• Install your own electrical wiring
• Change a plug on a lead.

These tasks may seem simple enough but without the correct training, you will not be aware of all the risks you are exposed to by working with these electrical devices. Electricians are trained to assess the risk of a situation and know where it is safe to work and act accordingly, ensuring your safety at all times. Around your home, however, there are some simple jobs that are safe for you to perform, such as:

• Resetting a safety switch or circuit breaker
• Changing an electric light bulb or tube
• Replacing a fuse
• Changing a starter in a fluorescent light fitting.

When you are performing any of these tasks make sure the electricity is turned off and remember to take extreme care because electricity as we know can severely injure or kill.

Every home should have a safety switch; if your home does not have one, contact a licensed Electrician and have one installed as soon as possible. These devices are cheap, simple to install, and save many lives every year.

While there are many things you can do to stay safe when working with electricity, here’s 12

12 Electrical Safety Tips To Keep You Safe At Home

• If you have toddlers, be sure to use child-proof plugs to prevent them from poking their fingers or other object into sockets.
• Minimise the use of extension cords, plug directly into the wall where possible. Keep cords to the side and don’t run them under rugs or carpets
• Don’t pull the cord to remove the plug from the socket, you may loosen the internal wires, pull from the plug instead.
• Unwind cords fully during use to prevent overheating, don’t tie them together.
• Always turn light switches off before replacing a light bulb.
• Turn off switches whenever not in use, you’ll save power too.
• Never leave appliances such as heaters, hair dryers, hair straighteners run unattended.
• Don’t piggy-back a double adapter as it can cause an electrical fire.
• Don’t overload a power board with too many appliances.
• Never use appliances when your hands are wet
• Inspect appliances, plugs, switches and cords regularly for damage and repair or replace them.
• Ensure there’s adequate ventilation and space around appliances that generate heat.

Call us at 9387 2339 or email us, if you require any electrical help or advice