Electrical Safety Tips For Parents

With Christmas just around the corner electrical safety tips for parents seem like a good idea. After all, children may be getting gifts during the holiday with an element of electricity involved, or they may want to join in with the Christmas decorating.  As well as Christmas, we have the usual family hazards that can prove fatal with small children around, so we’ll be dropping in a few pointers there too. That way you can stay safe before, during and after the seasonal celebrations and all winter long.

Sockets

If you’re thinking of putting up Christmas lights then you need to consider tiny hands. Socket covers alone won’t stop your kids from getting a shock. Never rely on socket covers as they will not necessarily stop your child from getting a shock, either from the lights or any other installation. What you may be better off with is making sure that you have RCD protection in your fuse box or one you can plug-in.

Hot appliances can be dangerous to small children.

You also need to make sure that cords are always kept out of the way of children as they can be easily tripped over and that they’re not easily reachable if they’re attached to anything that’s switched on and hot. Anything like an iron, a kettle or hair appliances are going to cause a lot of pain and possibly permanent scarring.

Curious hands can make an accident happen very quickly.

A good idea to make sure appliance cords are not plugged in in general and you’ll get into the habit of not having them plugged in when kids are around. Children always love to play with anything that looks interesting and will pull something down to their height if they can’t see it, they won’t stop to think it might be something dangerous.

It’s a good idea not to leave white goods like tumble dryers, dishwashers and washing machines on when you’re out. If you’ve not got an RCD in your fuse box, then you can use a plug-in like we’ve mentioned before. It goes without saying that all appliances should be switched off when not in use.

Water and electricity are a fatal pairing.

When children wash their hands, or after taking a bath or a shower they should always be dried off thoroughly before being allowed to go off and potentially play with things where there’s electricity involved. Water and electricity, as we know, are a foul pair and together they can cause a serious accident. Finally, keep drinks away from anything electrical in case they spill, this can include but is not limited to TVs, speakers, computers and game consoles.

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If you have any questions about what we’ve talked about today please feel free to contact us here and one of our expert electricians will be more than happy to go through things with you. If you need any electrical work done don’t forget we’re all qualified, trained and registered with a government approved scheme and we’re here to help.