Safety Tips

Before you dig call the federally-mandated 811 to make sure there is not any buried power lines in your area. Do this before you dig holes for new trees, shrubs, fence posts, mailboxes or anything else. It is a good idea to call 48 hours before you plan to start your project. This is your responsibility under state law.

Always make sure you stay at least 10 feet away from the overhead power lines. Accidental contact could mean serious injury or death. Contact will also damage your equipment. Always have equipment lowered when transporting. When planting trees, remember they grow. A mature tree should be 10 feet away from a power line.

Downed power lines

Always assume downed power lines are “live” and stay away.

Do not attempt to remove anything in contact with a downed power line or drive across a downed power line.

Never overload outlets or power strips.  Too many cord plugged into one outlet can create a fire hazard.  You should only use no more than 80% of the available current from any outlet.  Out of the 5,300 annual household electrical fires, over 2,000 of them occur during the holiday season due to overloading of outlets.

Utility poles that have had signs nailed to them create a hazard for utility line workers.  To ensure the safest and most reliable electric service, please do not nail or attach anything to an electric utility pole.

Do not attach hunting stands to a utility pole - Do not use utility poles for target practice - Don not hang signs on utility poles

Example of a pole that was shot with a firearm with the potential to cause an outage

Do not use appliances, power tools, or any other electrical cord that has been damaged or frayed.  Replace the cord properly.  It is less expensive to replace a damaged electric cord than risk injury or death.

Throw it out