Fire Prevention & Electrical Safety When Working From Home
By now you may have figured much of this out for yourself or maybe you even remember similar thoughts from reminders around Christmas and cold weather seasons but the the Yakima Fire Department has some electrical safety tips for folks now working at home.
Due to COVID-19 more individuals are working from home and now May is National Electrical Safety Month providing a good reminder regarding electrical safety,
“Wherever you work, it’s always important to be safe,” said Yakima Fire Chief Aaron Markham. “That’s especially true now with more and more people working at home.”
The Yakima Fire Department (YFD) and the non-profit Electrical Safety Foundation International offer the following home office safety tips:
- Avoid overloading outlets
- Regularly inspect electrical cords and extension cords for damage
- Extension cords should only be used on a temporary basis
- Never run cords under rugs/carpets, doors, or windows
- Plug in smartly. Make sure cords do not become tripping hazards
- Keep papers and other potential combustible materials at least three feet away from space heaters and other heat sources
- Make sure you use proper wattage for lamps/lighting
- Make sure your home has smoke alarms. Test them monthly,
Visit https://yakimafire.com/ for more about YFD.
If the need to be safe from the virus is going to force us to jerry-rig a home office, the least we can do is to make that office as safe a possible.
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