May 2007 PowerKids
Electrical safety is no accident!
Keep electrical cords away from pets! An escaped hamster gnawed almost completely through this computer power cord before he was found. Fortunately for the little hairy Houdini, and his owners, the cord wasn’t plugged in!
Do your part to be electrically safe!
You may think electrical safety is something kids don’t have to worry about. After all, if there’s a problem, mom and dad will take care of it.
Well, mom and dad will do whatever they can to keep you safe. But it’s everyone’s responsibility to respect electricity, and use it safely and wisely. Kids use electricity just as much as grown-ups do. You use it whenever you use the computer, watch TV, sing into your karaoke machine, play a video game on your TV or recharge your iPod. There are a lot of things you can do to help keep your entire family safe. If everyone does his or her part to stay safe, you’ll all benefit!
• Make sure electric cords are out of the way from where people walk. You don’t want anyone to trip over them! They shouldn’t be placed under rugs or have furniture resting on them either.
• Don’t touch electrical items when they are wet or on wet surfaces or if they are in water.
• Small appliances (like hair dryers) should be unplugged when they are not in use.
• Keep electric appliances away from sinks or bathtubs.
• Make sure appliance cords are not sitting on hot surfaces (like toaster ovens and range tops). The cords could get damaged.
• Don’t stick metal objects like knives and forks into an appliance.
• Keep electrical cords away from pets. If they chew on them (and puppies, kittens, hamsters and the like love chewing on things!), they might get shocked.
• Make sure pets are brought indoors if there is a lightning storm.
• Stay away from downed power lines. If you are in a car that is in contact with downed wires, stay in the car. If there is a fire or other emergency and you have to leave the car, jump out so no part of you touches the ground and the car at the same time. Do not return to the car.
• Don’t use wire, tinsel or other metal in your kite. Since fishing line sometimes is made from wire, don’t use it with your kite. Fly your kite or model plane in open areas away from power lines. If your kite does get caught in a power line, leave it there and call your electric co-op for help. Don’t fly a kite if the weather is bad.
• Don’t climb power poles, transmission towers or trees with power lines running through them or near them. Don’t throw rocks at equipment on the poles.
• Don’t climb on, sit on or jump off pad-mounted electric transformers — those big green boxes that sit in many suburban yards. Those are used when power lines are buried underground. That humming you hear means 7,200 volts of electricity is near!
• Electric appliances should be carried by the handle — not by the cord.
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 5/1/2007
Number of Views: 484
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