It’s always a good idea to practice smart electrical safety. It never hurts to refresh yourself on the steps you can take to keep you and your family safe, but it’s especially prudent this time of year. May is National Electrical Safety Month, and here at Roman Electric we want to make sure our neighbors stay safe during the quickly approaching summer.

Since the end of the school year is almost here, it’s important to make sure your kids know how to be smart around electricity while they enjoy their few precious months of freedom. And it isn’t just limited to children, either! Everyone in the house should go over these electrical safety tips to help make this National Electrical Safety Month an educational one.

Don’t Ignore Wiring

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, electrical issues are responsible for more than 65,000 fires and more than 450 deaths every year. Some of these can’t be prevented, but you can do your part to limit the potential for one to happen in your home by making sure your wiring is intact.

Have an inspector take a look at your home’s wiring to see if it all checks out. While most wiring is designed to last for a significantly long period of time, smaller issues can go undetected until they become serious problems all of a sudden. And if your home was built in the 1970s, it may have been fitted with aluminum wiring, which is particularly dangerous.

Smart Electrical Cord Care

We all use electrical cords to power our appliances and devices, so it’s critical to ensure they don’t pose a risk at all.

– Make sure they aren’t frayed or damaged at all. Even a tiny crack has the potential to quickly grow, which will expose wires and present a heightened risk of short circuiting or shock.

– Hide electrical cords so that they can’t be tripped over and so that the hands of curious children can’t find them. Place them under a rug or behind furniture so they’re out of the way.

– Use plastic outlet covers when your cords aren’t plugged in to keep prying fingers out of them.

GFCI Outlets

You’ve almost certainly got a few outlets around your home that look different compared to the others. These will have a reset button and are usually located closer to water sources. GFCI outlets are designed to shut off automatically in the event they detect a potential short circuit, which is more likely around water.

Make sure yours are all primed and ready – and be sure that you’ve got GFCI outlets installed in the first place.

Don’t Overload Power Strips

Few devices are as useful as power strips are. They can handle several electrical cords all at once, and they protect your valuable electronics from dangerous power surges. But, like everything, they can only support so much.

If you stick too many plugs into them, the power strips might not be able to sufficiently bear the load you need. Spread them out among a few power strips to evenly distribute the power and avoid straining one power strip too badly.

Roman Electric: Milwaukee’s Electrical Safety Experts

This National Electrical Safety Month, let the pros at Roman Electric help you and your family double-check your home to make sure everything’s safe and sound. Whether you need an electrical safety inspection or need someone you can trust to re-do a wiring job or anything in-between, we’re here to help!

Give us a call at 414-369-3798 to see how we can help today!