CHILDREN are at risk when illegal power is connected, appliances are re-purposed and plugs overloaded!
Eskom says every year innocent lives are lost and people seriously injured through the unsafe use of electricity.
Contact with low hanging electrical cables and fallen power lines, illegal connections, vandalism, cable theft, substandard wiring and repurposing of appliances are all dangerous.
The re-purposing of appliances is when equipment meant for one use is changed to perform another task, like when a gas or a primus stove is changed to electricity.
The utility warned: “These stoves don’t have the correct electrical parts and the wires are exposed. This is very dangerous as the appliances have no safety features and people can be injured or killed if they touch the stove.
“Without the insulation or lining which protects you from live electricity, these appliances pose a very serious danger.
The risk of fire is high when you use re-purposed appliances in your home.”
People also turn ordinary appliances into super appliances, but Eskom said when people have limited plug points and connect multiple appliances like the TV, kettle and stove to one plug, they overload the plug, which is very dangerous.
It said a single plug has limited power supply and will have to supply more current than it’s rated for to run all the appliances plugged in.
Some safety tips:
- Never use an extension cord if it is twisted
- Never pull a plug out by the cord, but by the plug itself
- Never connect multiple appliances to a single point
- Never put electrical wires directly into a wall plug socket
- Only use SABS approved plugs and extension leads
- Switch off at the wall socket before pulling the plug out
- Do not stick fingers into plug sockets
- Ensure safety caps cover wall sockets to protect babies.
