We offer these electrical safety tips to help keep you and your family safe from electrical hazards when decorating your home for the holiday season.
Decorating Safely Outdoors
- Look up and around you to locate power lines, before hanging outdoor lights.
- Never hang lights or decorations on tress that are located near power lines.
- Keep ladders, poles, lights and yourself 3 metres or 10 feet away from power lines.
- Use lights, cords and decorations that are rated and approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) for outdoor use or wet locations.
- Plug into a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) to avoid electrical shock.
Decorating Safely Indoors
- Make sure smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, located on each level of your home are in good working order.
- Inspect decorations for cracks or loose sockets and frayed or bare wires that could cause a serious shock or fire hazard.
- Don't overload your electrical outlets and circuits which can overheat and start a fire.
- Don't connect LED strings of lights to conventional non-LED lights.
- Turn off your holiday lights before going to bed or when you are not home.
The
Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) offers additional tips to help keep you and your family safe from electrical hazards when buying and installing holiday lighting and decorations