A third year electrical apprentice died last month while carrying out weekend electrical work unsupervised in the roof of a friends house. This is a sad and poignant reminder to us all about the dangers of unqualified people attempting electrical work. Here are my top tips on keeping your family safe in the home.
1. Install a safety switch: If your house was built before 1992, you might need to invest in safety switches for your power and lighting circuits. They’re designed to protect against electric shocks by switching off the power supply within a fraction of a second when an electrical fault occurs.
2. Safety Plugs: If you have children, pick up some safety plugs or power point covers. They’re easy to use, don’t cost a lot, and insert directly into empty power sockets so your little ones can’t push things they shouldn’t into your power sockets.
3. Find out where underground cables are before you dig around your property by dialling 1100 for help.
4. Say no to DIY electrical jobs: It is illegal and unsafe. Not worth the few dollars you might save. That is why it always advisable to use a qualified electrician such as Dawson Electric.
5. Test and Tag appliances: The purpose of this is to measure whether a particular appliance is safe to use. Replace damaged appliance that have frayed cord or broken plugs.
6. Get Rid of Octopus Connections: The use of extension cords to increase the number of outlets at home should be avoided. They are the primary cause of household fires.