Holiday Electrical
Safety Tips

The holidays are a joyous time to spend with family and friends, and
a fun time to decorate your home festively with lights.  The Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW 481 want to ensure your holiday remains memorable and safe by following a few electrical safety tips.

• Inspect each electrical decoration.  Cracked or frayed sockets, loose or bare wires and loose connections may cause a serious shock or start a fire. 

• Don’t staple or nail through light strings or electrical/extension cords – you could damage the wire or insulation, which could lead to an electrical fire or shock.

• Turn off all electrical light strings and decorations before leaving home or going to bed. 

• Watch for flickering lights, sparks from appliances or wall outlets, warming plates, plugs or outlets and dimming lights.  These signals are potential danger spots that could cause an electrical fire.

• Make sure there is 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.

• Don’t run extension cords under rugs, around furniture legs or across doorways.  Put safety covers on unused receptacle outlets and extension cords to prevent children from inserting anything into these openings.

• Use only extension cords that have been listed by a registered certified organization, such as Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL).

• 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 non-flammable.

• 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.
  
  
• Don’t ignore switches or receptacle outlets that don’t work. 

Keep your holiday season BRIGHT and SAFE!  If you are ever unsure about your home’s electrical safety, call a Quality Connection contractor.  For more information, visit www.qc-indy.com . The Quality Connection represents 80 union contractors and more than 2,800 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 481 electrical workers committed to the partnership of labor and management working together.