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Why Your New Years Resolution Should Be Electrical Safety

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Electrical safety in both the home and the workplace is one of the most important aspects of our lives, yet it’s one that we spend very little time thinking about.

All electrical systems—including the ones that surround us every day—have the potential to cause shock, injury, fires and death. According to the National Fire Protection Association, about 50,000 fires are caused by faulty electrical systems in homes each year, resulting in about 450 deaths and 1,500 injuries. Workplace electrical incidents result in another nearly 300 deaths and more than 3,500 injuries every year.

Yet too often, we take our electrical systems for granted and neglect even a basic safety training for not only ourselves, but our families and employees.

We at Eric Krise Electrical Contractors would like to see 2016 be the safest year ever and urge you to make a New Year’s resolution to improve safety training, whether it’s at home or in the workplace.

We also live in a world where electrical systems and devices are constantly being upgraded and new electrical technologies are emerging. Your electrical system is subject to components that wear out or simply weren’t designed to handle the amount of use we now expect from them. It is critical that consumers are aware that their home electrical system should be evaluated by a qualified, licensed electrician before any electrical installation.

In the workplace, it’s just as important that your employees are trained in electrical safety procedures, both to comply with OSHA requirements, but also to protect them and the business. In roughly the last ten years, government statistics attributes more than 46,000 injuries to on-the-job electrical hazards.

All industrial and commercial electrical installations should regularly be inspected and certified by professionals. Businesses also need to have a planned process for every job as part of its safety program. Every worker should be familiar with every aspect of the safety procedures for their jobs.

Whether at home or in a business, all electrical work should be done and inspected by professionals and everyone in the home and workplace should review basic electrical safety.

We’ve posted electrical safety tips before, (and a review of past posts will give you important safety information) but in the hopes for a safe 2016, we’d like to do it again. Because above all, we wish you a safe, and healthy New Year.

Electrical safety tips from the NFPA:

  1. Replace or repair damaged or loose electrical cords.
  2. Avoid running extension cords across doorways or under carpets.
  3. In homes with small children, make sure your home has tamper-resistant (TR) receptacles.
  4. Consider having additional circuits or outlets added by a qualified electrician so you do not have to use extension cords.
  5. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for plugging an appliance into a receptacle outlet.
  6. Avoid overloading outlets. Plug only one high-wattage appliance into each receptacle outlet at a time.
  7. If outlets or switches feel warm, frequent problems with blowing fuses or tripping circuits, or flickering or dimming lights, call a qualified electrician.
  8. Place lamps on level surfaces, away from things that can burn and use bulbs that match the lamp’s recommended wattage.
  9. Make sure your home has ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) in the kitchen bathroom(s), laundry, basement, and outdoor areas.
  10. Arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs) should be installed in your home to protect electrical outlets.

Do you live in Gloucester County and need an electrical system upgrade in your home? Call us at 856.769.3932.

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