Electrical Emergencies: How to prevent electrical faults

How to prevent electrical faults?While electrical problems are pretty common, they are usually minor. However, there are instances where they turn into dangerous situations. Critical electrical faults, for example, poses a threat to your property and everyone inside it. It can cause damages to your home and injuries to you and your family. Or worse, it can even lead to death. So in such cases, you must act swiftly and smartly.

As your guide, here’s a list of what and what not to do if you ever find yourself in an electrical emergency.

Risks Associated with Dangerous Electrical Faults

An electrical fault is any abnormal or irregular flow of electric current. It causes an excessively high current to flow, which can result in the following:

• Damages to your appliances or devices
• Sparks
• Flashovers
• Electrocution or electrical shock
• Electrical fire

Usually, an electrical fault is caused by shoddy electrical work, failing equipment, or environmental conditions. If you suspect any faulty wiring in your home, make sure to call an emergency electrician to have it checked out. This can save you a lot of trouble and money later on.

How to prevent electrical faults?

If the electrical fault has already put you in an emergency, say it caused electrocution or electric fire, then you must keep calm and take the following steps:

1. Electrical Shock

• Stop and think: If one of your family members received a serious electric shock, your first reaction may be to help them. However, this is the worst thing you can do. The electric charge that just passed through him/her can easily move into you if you make contact. So stop and think. Your number one priority is to limit the number of people who will get shocked.
• Call emergency services: If you have someone with you, you can divide the steps between you. First, have someone call medical professionals so they can immediately attend to the victim of electrical shock.
• Turn off the power: Then, if it is safe to do so, turn off the power. This will make the site safer for you and the responding medical emergency team. Also, this will prevent further damage to your home.

If it’s not safe to turn the power off or if it will take too long, proceed to the next step. 

• Remove the person: Try to remove the person from more danger by separating him/her from the electricity source. Use a dry and non-conductive item such as a wooden rod, wooden broomstick, or a PVC pipe.
• Administer first aid: Once the person is removed from immediate danger, you can then approach and begin first aid. If the person is responsive, attend to the injuries by placing the burns under cold water for at least 20 minutes before covering them with dressings. Never put ointments or oils for burns. On the other hand, if the person is not breathing, perform CPR until the medical team arrives.

 2. Electrical Fire

• Cut the power: If the fire has not yet fully started, the first thing you should do is to cut the power supply. Go to your home’s breaker box and flip the switch.
• Use a fire extinguisher: Once you’ve cut the power supply, you should then use a Class-A extinguisher to put out the fire. Don’t use water as it will only further fuel the electrical fire. In case you weren’t able to cut the power supply, only use a Class-C extinguisher. Continue dispersing until you’ve put out the fire completely.
• Evacuate the site: If you can’t control the fire, leave your home immediately.
• Call Fire and Rescue: Even after you’ve managed to put out the fire, you should still call fire and rescue. If someone has been injured, call an ambulance.

Call an Emergency Electrician

To prevent such frightening situations, best call an emergency electrician as soon as you notice problems with your electrical system. Here are some telling signs that you might be in immediate danger:

• Burning smell from an outlet
• Buzzing and humming noise from inside the wall
• Warm switches
• Large sparks from a plug
• Smoke from an outlet
• Flood
• The circuit breaker keeps tripping
• Flickering lights

Hope now you know how to prevent electrical faults.

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