garetpaquette: May - National Electrical Safety Month

Sunday, August 24, 2014

May - National Electrical Safety Month

Each May, Cooper Electric partners with the Electrical Safety Foundation to promote, "National Electrical Safety Month".

The mission of "NESM" is to reduce the number of electrical fires and electrical related injuries. Each year, too many lives are adversely effected by failures and malfunctions of electrically related items in the home.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimates 47,700 home structure fires, reported to U.S. fire departments each year, involved an electrical failure or malfunction as a contributing factor to ignition. These fires resulted in 418 civilian deaths, 1,570 injuries, and $1.4 Billion in direct property damage. Again, these are the reported fires only, several smaller occurances that go unreported are not included in these estimations of damages.

These incidence are preventable. Homeowners should be aware of the risks that faulty electrical systems pose to their property and lives, and take a proactive approach to investigating their home.

Cooper Electric does this through CurrentSAFE, a whole house electrical hazard detection service. The month of May is a great time to investigate electrical branch circuitry in the home. The season is changing, more electrical appartuses will be plugged into the walls, weather it be a fan, a window air conditioning unit, or the running of ceiling fans. More energy flowing on the circuits, means the chance of failure is greater.

Taking preventive measures to assure your home is safe, is the best course of action.