How to survive an auto accident involving power lines
Planting tips: Keep trees away from power lines
Electrical safety for home and garden do-it-yourselfers
CFL bulbs and mercury safety tips
Paying the price for power theft
Fire prevention tips
Space heater safety tips
Building too close to power lines is dangerous and costly
I need to perform electrical work that I, the member, am responsible for and need to have my meter pulled to turn the power off. Is this okay?
How to survive an auto accident involving power lines
If you're involved in a car accident that hits a green transformer box with underground power cables, a power pole or brings down a power line, Polk-Burnett urges you to stay in your vehicle and wait for help. If you witness an accident involving power poles and lines, don’t leave your vehicle to approach the accident scene, stay in your car and call for help. In either situation getting out of the vehicle, with few exceptions, is the wrong thing to do until Polk-Burnett crews arrive to de-energized the power line. “Often our inclination is to step in and help those in danger and assist the injured," said Molly Hall, executive director of SafeElectricity. “But in accidents involving power lines and equipment, you could easily become another victim in need of rescue.”
If you must get out of the car because of fire or other danger, jump clear of the vehicle with your feet together, so they both touch the ground at the same time. Then hop with feet together or shuffle away. Don’t run. Electricity spreads through the ground in ripples, like a stone dropped in water. The voltage is highest in the ring closest to the vehicle and decreases with distance. When you hop with feet together or shuffle away, one foot won’t be in a higher voltage zone than the other, which can make you a path for electricity to flow through you. If the power is energized and you step outside the car, your body becomes the path for electricity, and electrocution is the tragic result. Even if a power line is on the ground, there is still potential for the line and anything it comes in contact with to be energized. Stay safe in your vehicle unless there’s fire or imminent risk of fire. Wait until a Polk-Burnett crew arrives to make sure the power is off. The same rules apply to situations involving farm and construction equipment. If equipment comes in contact with overhead power lines, stay in the cab and warn others to stay away until the power line is de-energized.
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Planting tips: Keep trees away from power lines
Trees and plants that grow too close to power lines can create power outages and fire hazards. Before beginning your landscaping projects, Polk-Burnett reminds you to plant trees safely away from overhead and underground power lines, and to choose trees and bushes that won’t grow to interfere with your electricity. Trees conduct electricity and create safety hazards if limbs grow too close to power lines. When branches contact overhead lines, outages can occur and electrical arcing and sparking can cause fires. A greater concern is the safety risk when children climb trees near power lines. Accidental contact of electrical wires with a tree limb could be fatal for a person playing or trimming around a tree.
To avoid planting in the right-of-way, please follow this link to Polk-Burnett's Planting Guidelines.
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Electrical safety for home do-it-yourselfers
Polk-Burnett urges all do-it-yourselfers to take precautions, especially when working around electrical equipment and power lines. Safety tips to keep in mind include:
- Look up and around. Always be aware of the location of power lines, particularly when using long metal tools, ladders and pruning tools, or when installing antennas or satellite dishes, or when doing roof repair work.
- Be especially careful when working near power lines attached to your house. Keep equipment and yourself at least 10 feet from lines.
- Never trim trees near power lines; leave that to the professionals. Never use water or blower extensions to clean gutters near electric lines.
- Make sure you have the right tools and equipment for the job. Use only extension cords that are rated for outdoor use when working outside.
- Use heavy-duty three-prong extension cords for tools with three-prong plugs. Never remove or bend the third prong. It is a safety feature to reduce risk of electrocution.
- Electricity and water equal danger. Never use electrical appliances or yard tools if it’s raining or the ground is wet, or touch circuit breakers or fuses if you are wet or standing in water.
- If your project includes digging, like building a deck or planting a tree, call Diggers Hotline to have underground utilities located and marked.
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CFL bulbs and mercury safety tips
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) save money, use less electricity and help promote energy conservation. But what if a bulb breaks or burns out? Follow these links to learn more about safe and proper use of CFLs, plus rebate incentives for Polk-Burnett members when purchasing CFLs for your home.
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Paying the price for power and copper theft
Power Theft
Power theft is when someone illegally connects onto a Polk-Burnett power supply, hooks up a service that has been disconnected or tampers with a meter to avoid recording electricity usage. It’s often an invisible crime where members are the victim. All electricity used on Polk-Burnett's system is purchased from a power supplier. If someone is stealing power, that expense has to be made up by the rest of the membership. So when someone is stealing power, they are essentially stealing from you.
Power theft also carries deadly risks. Many thieves have paid for the power they are stealing with their lives. But the danger does not end with those who are engaging in illegal activity. Tampering with electrical equipment or attempting to steal electric power carries the potential to harm others. Innocent members and utility workers on the same line are at risk of electrocution when someone tampers with electricity or electrical equipment.
In emergency situations such as fires, power has to be shut off for firefighters and ambulance crews to enter a building safely. If lines have been interfered with illegally, the lines that are thought to be de-energized, could actually remain energized, endangering the lives of the emergency personnel. From a reliability standpoint, illegal connections to power sources and attempts to bypass the electric meter can cause power interruptions and compromise power quality.
Please help Polk-Burnett prevent power theft by following these simple steps:
- Notify Polk-Burnett immediately if you know of an illegally connected member.
- Do not cut the seal on your meter base or tamper with your meter for any reason.
- Be aware of your surroundings and report any suspicious activities to Polk-Burnett.
Copper Theft
Stealing copper from the electric system is not only a crime, it is also extremely dangerous. It impacts Polk-Burnett and its members in many ways.
It can cause power interruptions and outages.
It can impact our ability to supply reliable, quality power to you.
It can be very expensive to repair or replace material that was stolen.
It can leave that site unsafe for everyone.
If you see someone in stealing cooper or are aware of location where this has occurred or see suspicious activity, report it immediately to the local authorities.
Stealing power and copper are serious acts and Polk-Burnett will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
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Fire Prevention Tips
Nearly one-third of all residential fires are related to the misuse of electricity. This causes hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries and more than a billion dollars of property damage each year. Polk-Burnett asks you to be aware of the dangers and to take the following steps to prevent electrical fires:
- Inspect electrical cords, plugs and outlets to ensure safe working conditions; replace when damaged or worn.
- Don’t place cords under rugs, furniture, baseboards or curtains.
- Use only three-slot outlets for three-prong plugs. Never remove the grounding pin.
- Be sure all electrical equipment has the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) label.
- Do not use light bulbs with wattages higher than the rating of the fixtures.
- Allow air space around heat-producing appliances, such as TVs, radios, stereos, computers and lamps, to prevent overheating.
- Replace appliances and tools that overheat, smoke or spark.
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Space heater safety tips
Falling temperatures and rising heating costs have many looking at ways to lower heating bills. Safe Electricity urges extreme caution for those planning to use electric space heaters to help heat their homes this winter. Approximately one-third of all house fires nationwide occur during the cold heating season of December, January and February. According to the National Fire Protection Association, the major cause of these winter fires can be attributed to faulty and improper use and maintenance of supplemental heating equipment, such as space heaters. Safe Electricity offers the following precautions when using electric space heaters:
- Purchase only space heaters that have been safety tested and UL approved. Make sure the unit is equipped with an emergency tip-over shut-off feature and heating element guards. Read and follow all of the manufacturer’s instructions for operation and care.
- Before use, check to make sure the heater is clean and in good condition, and have all problems professionally repaired.
- Place heater out of high-traffic areas and on a level, hard, non-flammable floor surface — NOT on carpets, furniture or countertops.
- Remember to keep space heaters at least three feet from all combustible liquids like fuel, spray cans and paint, as well as flammable items such as draperies, blankets and sofas.
- Never allow pets or children near an electric heater. Accidental contact could result in serious shock or burns.
- Do not overload circuits. Never use extension cords or multiple plugs with a space heater, and make sure the unit is not plugged into the same circuit as other electric appliances.
- Never leave space heaters unattended. Turn off your space heater and unplug it before leaving the room or going to bed.
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Building too close to the power lines is dangerous and costly.
To meet national electrical safety codes and provide you and your neighbors with safe, reliable electricity at the lowest possible cost, Polk-Burnett does not recommend building or placing obstructions next to power lines. No structure, garage, deck or addition should be built within 20 feet of Polk-Burnett's main power lines. Any structure near the high-voltage electrical system is a safety concern for members and line workers. Modifications to the power lines to accommodated a structure or obstruction will be at the expense of the property owner. For more information follow this link to Obstructions in the Right-of-Way.
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I need to perform electrical work that I, the member, am responsible for and need to have my meter pulled to turn the power off. Is this okay?
It is not okay for either you or your electrician to pull your meter. First, the power cannot always be turned off by just pulling the meter. In addition, only trained and qualified Polk-Burnett employees are allowed to perform this type of work. The meter is not considered a point of disconnect. There is always a potential for injury due to fault current created when pulling the meter if something were to be defective in the meter socket. The potential for arc flash requires special tools and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be worn to complete this task. Therefore, it is required that the member call Polk-Burnett, with a minimum 24 hours advance notice, to schedule a meter disconnect. Trip charges will be applied to the member’s bill to complete this work.
If the meter is pulled, the location will be reported to our office as an outage and if we don’t know that the meter has been pulled, a crew may be dispatched to your location and the member would then be assessed the full cost of the unnecessary trip.
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