York Electric Cooperative reminds you to plug into safety

In May, elec­tric coop­er­a­tives across the coun­try pro­mote safe­ty aware­ness to coin­cide with Nation­al Elec­tric Safe­ty Month. Every year, thou­sands of acci­dents occur due to shock haz­ards, and YEC, your coop­er­a­tive, is com­mit­ted to edu­cat­ing the pub­lic about poten­tial elec­tri­cal dan­gers in and around their homes.

In 2016, 475,000 struc­ture fires (includ­ing res­i­den­tial fires) were report­ed in the U.S., caus­ing 2,950 deaths, 12,775 injuries and $7.9 bil­lion in prop­er­ty dam­age. Accord­ing to the Nation­al Fire Pro­tec­tion Asso­ci­a­tion, a res­i­den­tial fire was report­ed every 90 sec­onds. Many home fires occur when elec­tri­cal equip­ment is out­dat­ed or improp­er­ly used.

Your ener­gy source

It is cru­cial that you under­stand your home­’s elec­tri­cal sys­tem and the safe­ty con­cerns asso­ci­at­ed with the lat­est res­i­den­tial tech­nolo­gies before bring­ing them into your home. With new­er tech­nolo­gies, such as solar pan­els, elec­tric vehi­cles and more elec­tri­cal gad­gets in the home, peo­ple need to ensure they have an elec­tri­cal sys­tem that’s com­pat­i­ble with the increased load. Uti­lize your source of ener­gy and infor­ma­tion by con­tact­ing YEC at (803) 684‑4248 or vis­it our web­site. Your coop­er­a­tive is always here for you!

Mak­ing acci­dents dis­ap­pear

YEC puts a lot of ener­gy into edu­cat­ing the pub­lic about elec­tric­i­ty. Recent­ly over 500 stu­dents at three local ele­men­tary schools had an inter­est­ing les­son on elec­tri­cal safe­ty. Using mag­ic tricks and com­e­dy to hold the stu­dents’ atten­tion, magi­cian Chris Dixon pre­sent­ed his Mak­ing Acci­dents Dis­ap­pear pro­gram. The pro­gram teach­es stu­dents to be aware of their sur­round­ings, espe­cial­ly when elec­tric wires and appli­ances are near­by.

“There is no per­form­ing art that is more uni­ver­sal­ly loved among chil­dren than mag­ic. I was excit­ed that York Elec­tric decid­ed to spon­sor this pro­gram again this year. Teach­ing elec­tri­cal safe­ty in a way that is mem­o­rable and fun for the stu­dents is a real pas­sion of mine,” Dixon not­ed.

At YEC, we are com­mit­ted to doing every­thing in our pow­er to pre­vent acci­dents and pro­mote safe­ty. We are always look­ing out for you! That’s why we reg­u­lar­ly offer safe­ty demon­stra­tions to stu­dents and oth­er groups through­out our ser­vice area.

Through elec­tri­cal safe­ty aware­ness and edu­ca­tion, we can all play a part in pre­vent­ing elec­tri­cal haz­ards and injuries in the future. Togeth­er let’s plug into safe­ty this May.