Canberrans could be in for a nasty shock (literally) this Yuletide, if they are careless about overloaded power outlets or overheated Christmas lights.
Over the 12 days of Christmas, Evoenergy, the ACT electricity and gas distributor, is running a safety campaign educating Canberrans on potential electric dangers during summer. In a serious situation, their advice could save a life.
“It’s really important that our customers are aware of electricity-related issues,” Bronwen Butterfield, Assistant Group Manager Customer Delivery, said. “Some of them are issues that the customer will experience at their own home and not related to the network, and others have an impact on us and we can do our bit to help customers stay safe.”
1: Shocks and tingles
If you feel a shock, tingle, or zap when touching a tap, showerhead or appliance, it could relate to faulty lights or faulty wiring in the home. Call Evoenergy on 13 10 93 so they can investigate, and determine whether the customer needs an electrician to help, or the issue is with the network. Don’t touch the area again until it’s deemed safe. Electric shocks can pose health risks, including changes to heart rhythm, so consult a doctor.
2: Christmas lights safety inside
Read manufacturer’s instructions before using lights, as faulty wiring or damage can create safety hazards. Check them before putting them up; while they were in storage, they might have kinked, or been eaten through by rats.
“Once they plug that in, it could create a situation if it’s not safe,” Ms Butterfield said.
Heat generated from Christmas lights can cause fires if they are not properly managed; clumping lights together can make them overheat.
“Christmas lights usually don’t create too much heat on their own; hence when they’re sold to the public, it’s assumed they’re safe,” Ms Butterfield said. “But if the lights are grouped together – when people stream lights around each other and then they clump lights together – that creates a conglomeration of heat which could then, if it’s touching tinsel and plastic, cause a fire.”
Keep cords neatly secured to avoid tripping over them.
3: Christmas lights safety outside
Outdoors, ensure any lighting system is weatherproof / suitable for outdoor use. Keep all electrical connections out of areas that may become wet due to watering or extreme weather conditions.
“Fortunately, a lot of the lighting systems outside are solar-powered these days, because that reduces the risk of wet weather interfering with electricity,” Ms Butterfield said. “A lot of them are battery-powered, so that’s great.
“But where people have actually plugged the lights into an extension cord or directly to the home, they really should make sure that that is weatherproof, so that there’s no interaction between the power supply and water. Because everything there could become live and conduct electricity …
“A customer might string lights along a colorbond fence; if they’ve plugged that into the electricity supply, then there’s a risk potentially of interference through rain. That whole colorbond fence could potentially become alive with electricity.”
4: Keep trees away from powerlines
Check trees are a safe distance from powerlines; vegetation growing too close (1 to 1.5 metres) is a safety hazard, and can cause power outages. Homeowners should trim trees near power lines to prevent power outages. Have an Evoenergy-accredited arborist complete the work.
“We’ve just had a storm, and we’ve had a lot of trees down across the ACT,” Ms Butterfield said. “Often when those trees fall, they could fall on a power line, which means the power goes out for quite some time while we go out there to fix it. We encourage homeowners to trim their trees and maintain that clearance, which needs to be one to 1.5 metres from the powerlines. They also need to make sure their service line is clear of trees and hedges.
“It’s the customer’s responsibility for any trees that are inside their property to make sure they are away from the power lines. It’s been raining a lot over the last few years, so the growth seems to be a lot faster than people might be used to. We encourage them not to wait until we tell them to trim the trees, but that they do it proactively.”
Evoenergy has more information online.
5: What to do in a vehicle collision involving electricity
If your vehicle collides with a power pole, powerline or green pillar box, it is safest to stay in your vehicle, call 000 for life-threatening situations, and wait. All electrical equipment should be treated as live, and bystanders should stay at least 10 metres away.
A collision “can expose electricity and it can create step touch risk, which means it’s live and if anyone goes near it that they could be electrocuted,” Ms Butterfield said. “When the lines come down, people often falsely assume that it’s safe. It’s not safe, those lines could still be alive …
“When a powerline falls on the ground, it actually burns the grass along the ground where it’s touched it. So, it’s not just that it’s live electricity; it could potentially create fire, so people should stay back.”
Bystanders can also call Evoenergy on 13 10 93; they will turn off the power remotely via their control rooms.
Evoenergy has more information online about what to do if you need to exit your vehicle.
6: Have your Survival Plan ready
Prepare for extreme weather events, such as bushfires and storms, by creating a survival plan and having alternative sources of power.
“In extreme weather events, sometimes the power will go off if trees fall on lines; or if there’s a bushfire, we may need to have the power off for a period of time,” Ms Butterfield said. “So, if customers know that a storm is coming, or that a bushfire is near the ACT, they really should charge batteries and power banks up, just so they’ve got that extra source available of alternative power.
“They could also look at preparing a survival plan that includes packed and canned food so they don’t have to cook; filling up water bottles; filling up the bath with water, just so for a certain period of time they can cope without too much impact.
The ACT Emergency Services Agency has a template and checklist for people to prepare survival plans.
Further tips on preparing for and what to do in a power outage are here.
7: A reminder about gas safety
Never leave gas cooktops or barbecues unattended. “That’s a safety hazard,” Ms Butterfield said. “Something could go wrong, and you can’t do anything to fix it.”
When using gas stoves, always keep the flame from extending past the side of the pot. The pot should be bigger than the area of the flame, so that it doesn’t create the potential for a fire to start.
Sometimes issues with the gas network cause gas leaks. “Unlike an electricity leak [which] you can’t smell or see, gas you can definitely smell, so any hint of gas should be reported to Evoenergy on 13 19 09 so that we can get someone out to investigate.”
Open windows and ventilate the home so that the gas doesn’t overwhelm you, or make you pass out.
Evoenergy has more information about natural gas safety.
8: Don’t overload power circuits with lights or pressies
Do not overload power boards or piggyback double adaptors –“A no-no, because it can create a heat issue, which can then lead to a fire,” Ms Butterfield said.
Running too many appliances off one power point by piggybacking adaptors, or connecting power boards together, can overload the circuit and lead to overheating, or even house fires.
Be aware of how many devices are already using your supply before you add new Christmas items to charging points.
9: Keep the whole family safe this Christmas – including your furry friends!
Secure Christmas lights and trees to prevent pets from getting into them and causing damage or starting a fire.
“While you are at home, but also when you’re not there or in the night-time, and you can’t supervise them, [pets] can get up to mischief,” Ms Butterfield said. “Climbing up a Christmas tree would be a lot of fun for a cat, but won’t be fun if they knock it over and it starts a fire.”
Be vigilant with wires and lighting – make sure you secure your tree lights to the base of the tree, and secure the plug to the socket.
“[Pets] could get into chewing on wires, so people should really tuck them away and make everything very neat,” Ms Butterfield said.
Keep lighting and trees isolated from furniture so cats can’t climb them.
Outside the home, be mindful that possums could take an interest in lights in the trees and around the eaves of the house.
“If [the lights are] wired into the home, that could be a potential source for an electric shock if [the possums have] bitten through those wires and caused them to be not safe anymore,” Ms Butterfield said.
Rats and mice could also get into wires. Before you pack them away at the end of Christmas, check them and throw them out if they are not safe.
10: Minimise electricity consumption when travelling
Turn off appliances and devices when not in use to reduce the risk of electricity-related accidents while travelling. Disconnect appliances to reduce energy consumption (and electrical risks you won’t be home to deal with).
“It’s a good idea to power down the home, and disconnect things that don’t need to be operating while you’re not there,” Ms Butterfield said.
“They could overuse energy; they could leave appliances on that don’t need to be left on, and that could create an electricity hazard because they’re not there to monitor those things.
“The best idea is to just turn it off at the power point and pull it out of the power socket, then there’s no risk that there is any electricity coming through to those appliances. It also reduces the potential for an electricity risk while they are away.”
11: Check your smoke alarm
Check your smoke alarm. Make sure it is connected to power, or that you have changed your batteries within the past year.
“People go away at Christmas time, so they need to make sure the smoke alarms are working,” Ms Butterfield said.
“Smoke alarms are really important. A fire [could] start in the home, whether that be from an electrical incident or some other reason. The smoke alarm is really how people are going to find out about it, particularly if they’re asleep.
“If it’s connected to power, they should check that it’s all working. You can do that by sticking a pole up into the thing to get a really loud beep. If they can’t remember the last time they changed the batteries, customers really should go and change those batteries now, before the home gets busy, and particularly before they go away.”
More advice about smoke alarms is on the ACT ESA website: esa.act.gov.au/be-emergency-ready/smoke-alarms
12: Evoenergy: Here to help
Evoenergy will have on-call crews working over the holidays. The faults and emergency contact centre, field crews, and network controllers work 24/7 every day of the year, including Christmas and New Year’s.
“We’re particularly grateful to have all of those people continuing to work, that allows the rest of us to take a holiday and we appreciate that they’re doing that while their own families are taking those days off and enjoying each other’s company,” Ms Butterfield said.
“Our message to customers is to be patient with those crews if there is an incident affecting their power, because they’ll be getting around to get those jobs done as safely and as quickly as possible, and to appreciate too that those crews are working over Christmas.
“So, if there’s an incident and there’s a happy party going on, a pool party or something like that, and you see a crew rock up, particularly in this heat, having to wear their full personal protective clothing, that customers are kind and appreciate that they’re working hard.”
