Electrical Safety Tips for Parents

Safety around the home is important, especially if you have a young family. As a parent, you don’t want to have to worry about keeping an eye on everything your child is doing.

One thing you absolutely need to think about is electrical safety.

Below are same basic steps that you should take to help protect your child from electrocution or electrical fires.

Use socket covers

Children love poking things where they don’t belong. When you aren’ t using a power socket, you should plug a cover into the socket so that nothing can be inserted.

Don’t Overload

You should never overload your electrical sockets. Extension cords and power boards should only ever be considered as temporary solutions. If you have a permanent need for an additional socket, then you should get or installed. Overloading a socket can damage the electrical system inside your house and this may cause a fire hazard.

Check cords and cables

Regularly inspect the condition of electrical cords and cables that you use in your home. Regular movement, crushing or chewing pets can damage cables and expose wiring. If you start to see signs of wear and tear then the cable should be replaced immediately. Exposed wiring and little fingers mean an accident is waiting to happen.

Use Safety Switches

If you are using power boards then make sure that they have a surge protector built in. You can protect your home by installing a surge protector at your switch board, which will protect your property. These should be tested regularly by pushing the “test” or “t” button on the protector. As a rule of thumb, you should do this every 3 months.

Read the signs

If your fuses or surge protectors are regularly tripping then it is a sign that there is something wrong. Get an electrician out to you home to do an inspection. Do not think you can fix the problem by just installing a high capacity fuse – this could cause an overload in the wiring within your walls, or your appliances, which may lead to a fire.

Liquids & Electricity don’t work

Make sure that if there are any spills near power sockets or electrical devices that you turn off the electricity before cleaning up the liquid. Once the spill has been tidied up then make sure that it is safe before you turn the electricity back on. If an electrical device has water inside it, then it is not a good idea to go plugging it back in.

Look Out for power lines

Power lines that are too close to trees or when using ladders can be a disaster. Tress can be fun to climb, but they can be also good conductors of electricity. The safe clear distance for power lines is 6.4 meters for wires on poles, or 10 meters for electrical towers. Flying kites in the back yard can also be a hazard, remember to always look up first to see what obstacles may be in the way.

Always use a licensed tradesperson

Don’t attempt to do any electrical work yourself – its just not worth the risk. Engage a qualified electrician to do the work for you, and ask to see his licence before he starts.

Whilst we have tried to cover a range of safety issues here, this is not a comprehensive guide to electrical safety. Common sense should always prevail when dealing with electricity, and if you aren’t sure, then engage a p[professional to get the right advice.

At Network Plumbing, all of our tradespeople are licenced, qualified and insured to work on your property. Â So the next time you have an electrical issue, give us a call.