Electrical Safety for the Home

Keep your family safe by following these safety precautions to avoid injury or death. Do not touch a faulty appliance, plug, or bare wire. It can make you a part of the electric circuit and put you at risk for electrical shock.

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• Frayed wires are dangerous anywhere and should be repaired at once, or better yet, replaced.
• Replace inflexible electric cords with UL certified cords that meet the UL's safety requirements and guidelines.
• Repair any appliance that sparks, emits smoke, or shocks you.
• Never use any electric appliance while in the tub or shower.
• Do not use any appliance or touch an electric cord while you are touching metal pipes and faucets or anything wet.
• Outlets near water sources (bathrooms, kitchen sinks, garages, outdoors) should be GFCI protected.
• Unplug appliances before cleaning them or removing anything from them (such as burnt toast from your toaster).
• Do not yank on the electric cord when unplugging appliances-doing so can damage the wires. Take hold of the plug firmly and pull straight.
• Train children not to put things into electrical outlets. Plastic outlet guards are a good idea. Consider installing tamper-resistant outlets.
• Keep work areas clean. Oily rags, newspapers, and sawdust can catch fire from electric sparks.
• Never overload a circuit with high-wattage appliances. Overloading a circuit could cause the wire and breaker to heat up and could potentially start an electrical fire. Check the wattage on your appliances you want to plug into the same circuit does not exceed 1440 watts for a 15 amp circuit and 1920 watts for a 20 amp circuit.
• Ensure wattage on appliances plugged into the same circuit do not exceed 1440 watts for a 15 amp circuit and 1920 watts for a 20 amp circuit.