Electrical safety is no joke. Every year in the U.S., there are an estimated 187 electrical-related deaths, including deaths at home and at work. If you’d like to help prevent electrical injury and death in Missouri, May is the perfect time to start.
Each may, the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) celebrates National Electrical Safety Month. Electrical Safety Month is all about prevention and education: EFSI wants to educate you about preventing electrically-related fires, fatalities, and more.
Your electric coop wants to protect your home and business against electricity-related injuries and damages, too. Keep reading to learn how you can protect your home and business during National Electrical Safety Month.
Protect Your Home Against Electrical Fire
For most Missourians, electrical safety starts at home. Overloaded outlets, improper use of extension cords, and faulty home wiring can create major safety issues for your family. In fact, faulty wiring, alone, causes more than 26,000 house fires every single year in the U.S.
To protect your home against fault wiring, SafeElectricity.org recommends that homeowners take extra precautions as summer weather approaches. Why summer? Because home electricity consumption is at its peak in the summer months when kids are home from school and air conditioners are running on high.
This month, take the time to check the cords on your appliances and to examine the outlets in your home. If you notice frayed wiring or loose or missing outlet covers, have them replaced or repaired right away. For a longer checklist for electrical safety at home, visit SafeElectricity.org.
Home Electricity Safety Tip: Install GFCIs in all “wet” areas of the home. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that GFCIs could prevent more than two-thirds of America’s annual home electrocutions.
Protect Your Business
No business owner wants to be bear the ethical, legal, or financial responsibility for an employee’s injury or death, but every year in America, nearly two hundred businesses have to do exactly that.
OSHA estimates that approximately 187 American workers are killed at work in an electrically-related accident annually, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that each of those deaths costs the U.S. economy $5 million (source).
If you own a business in Missouri, you can minimize the risk of employee injury or death in electrically-related accidents by running the right electrical safety tests for your industry.
Pre-market electrical safety testing is run on many electrical devices and components, but field safety tests for electrical safety can help businesses that use custom-built electrical equipment, or who have recently relocated their operations.
Even when a business is using pre-tested equipment, it’s important (and in some cases, it’s required) for that same business to run product line testing to be sure that the entire production line runs safely when its many individually tested components are connected.
In addition to pre-market testing and field safety tests, business can save time and money by having electrical products tested for high voltage withstanding, current leakage, quality of electrical insulation, and ground continuity.
Learn more about Electrical Safety Testing on the Tüv Süd America website.
Whether at work or at home, it’s never the wrong time to invest in electrical safety. To learn more about EFSI’s National Electrical Safety Month initiative, click here.
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