Holiday Electrical Safety

Decorating the home for the holiday season is a great tradition, but an essential part of stringing the lights and putting up the tree is keeping an eye on electrical safety. Here are simple steps that everyone can take to ensure a safe and happy holiday season.

• Don’t overload your electric circuits.  Check fuses or circuit breaker panels to see what your home can handle, and stay well within the limits.
• Avoid putting too many strings of lights together and plugging them into a single outlet.
• Watch for flickering lights, sparks from appliances or wall outlets, warm plates, plugs, or outlets, and dimming lights or television screens.  These signal potential danger spots that could cause an electrical fire.
• Make sure there’s a bulb in each socket.  If a bulb is burned out, leave it in until you have a replacement.  Immediately replace any broken bulbs that have exposed filaments.
• Use only UL-listed equipment.  Check for frayed cords, cracked insulation and damaged plugs.
• Surge protector strips are a safe option if you need more outlets.
• Match plugs with outlets.  Never force a three-pronged plug into a two-hole outlet or extension cord.
• Don’t run extension cords under rugs, around furniture legs, or across doorways.
• If you have children in the house or are expecting young visitors, inspect your home for cracked or missing outlet covers.  Use safety caps to cover outlets.
• Keep your natural tree well watered to prevent bulbs from igniting dry branches.  Never use electrical decorations on metal trees.  Instead, place colored spotlights beside or above the tree.  Check to make sure an artificial tree is inflammable.
• Fasten outdoor lights securely to trees, house walls, or other firm supports using insulated staples, or run them through hooks to protect lights from wind damage.  Do not nail, tack, pinch, nick or stress wiring.

·         Outdoor lighting should have insulated electrical cords and be plugged into a Ground Fault Interrupter-protected receptacle only.  Keep all plugs and connectors off the ground, away from puddles and snow.

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