Safety first and foremost

At York Elec­tric, we rec­og­nize Elec­tri­cal Safe­ty Month every May, but we also know the impor­tance of prac­tic­ing safe­ty year-round. From our co-op crews to you, our valu­able mem­bers, we know every­one has a part to play in pri­or­i­tiz­ing safe­ty.

We not only live and breathe safe­ty here at YEC, but we also aim to edu­cate our mem­bers and com­mu­ni­ties, doing our part to keep safe­ty as a fore­thought instead of the “coul­da, woul­da, shoul­da” after an acci­dent. Our team hosts safe­ty demon­stra­tions at com­mu­ni­ty events, dis­cuss­es elec­tri­cal safe­ty at schools, posts about safe­ty on social media and writes about it in our month­ly com­mu­ni­ca­tions. We encour­age you to read our library of safe­ty infor­ma­tion and watch our videos.

Here are a few sim­ple tips to encour­age you stay safe in your home:

• Frayed wires pose a seri­ous safe­ty haz­ard. Pow­er cords can become dam­aged or frayed from age, heavy use or exces­sive cur­rent flow through the wiring. If cords become frayed or cut, replace them as soon as pos­si­ble.
• Avoid over­load­ing cir­cuits. Over­load hap­pens when you draw more elec­tric­i­ty than a cir­cuit can safe­ly handle—by hav­ing too many devices run­ning on one cir­cuit.
• Label cir­cuit break­ers to under­stand the cir­cuits in your home. Con­tact a qual­i­fied elec­tri­cian if your home is more than 40 years old and you need to install mul­ti­ple large appli­ances that use large amounts of elec­tric­i­ty.
• Use exten­sion cords prop­er­ly. Nev­er plug an exten­sion cord into anoth­er exten­sion cord. If you “daisy chain” them togeth­er, it could lead to over­heat­ing, cre­at­ing a poten­tial fire haz­ard. Don’t exceed the wattage of the cord. Doing so also cre­ates a risk of over­load­ing the cord and cre­at­ing a fire haz­ard. Exten­sion cords should not be used as per­ma­nent solu­tions. If you need addi­tion­al out­lets, con­tact a licensed elec­tri­cian to help.