Electrical Safety at Home

Do you know everything you should about your home’s electrical system and the electrical products you
use in it every day? If you’re like most people, the answer is probably “no.” It’s time to change that.
Electrically-related home fires and incidents result in hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries and
more than a billion dollars in property damage each year. A healthy respect for electricity and a basic
knowledge of electrical safety practices can help keep your home and family safe from electrical
hazards all year long.
The Home Electrical Safety Challenge provides a simple exercise to help you give your home an
electrical safety “check-up.” Making a few easy changes to improve safety can also lead to increased
energy efficiency and savings on your utility bills. Now, it is time for your do an inspection in your home.
An electrical hazard can be defined as a dangerous condition where a worker or any person could
make electrical contact with energized equipment or a conductor, and from which the person may
sustain an injury from shock; and/or, there is potential for the worker or the person to receive an arc
flash burn, thermal burn, or blast injury.

Following the above Safety Model, performed the following activity:

1. Recognize and identify the electrical hazards in your household using the given questionnaire
(Annex A).
2. Evaluate the identified hazards in your households (Refer to Annex B).
3. After evaluating the identified hazards, make an action plan to eliminate it from your
households (Annex C). Start from the most priority to the least priority. Include in your action
plan, necessary safety protocol or practices that should be observed in your households.
Present your action plan to your family to get their feedback. Incorporate the feedbacks in your
reports.
4. Submit a full report (5-10 pages excluding annexes) in a pdf file about the activity (see Annex D
for the suggested report format).
Annex A
Put a check mark accordingly.
COOKING UP SAFETY IN THE KITCHEN YES NO
1. Are the range, oven, and exhaust hood clean and free of
debris?
2. Is the cooking area around the range/oven clear of
combustibles, such as towels, napkins, and pot holders?
3. Is there enough room to allow for air circulation behind
the refrigerator?
4. Are the refrigerator coils free of dirt buildup that reduces
efficiency and creates a fire hazard?

5. Are there electrical appliances placed near the sink?

6. Have you tested your ground fault circuit interrupters

(GFCIs) this month?
7. Do you plug all of your counter top appliances into GFCI-
protected outlets?
8. Are all electrical cords in good condition with no signs of
fraying, cracking, or other damage?
9. Are there any appliance cords placed close to a hot
surface like the toaster, oven or range?
10. Do you have appliance cords that are dangling from
counters or tables where they could be pulled on or
tripped over?
11. Do you leave your toaster, coffee maker, and other
counter top appliances plugged in when you are not
using them?
PLUG INTO SAFETY IN THE FAMILY ROOM
12. Is your home equipped with tamper resistant receptacles
(TRRs) to reduce the risk of electric shock injuries to
children?
13. Are all of your light switch plates or outlet cover plates
hot to touch?
14. Are all of your light switch and outlet cover plates in good
condition and not cracked or broken?
15. Is furniture arranged so that outlets are available for all of
your lamps, entertainment equipment, and appliances
without the use of extension cords?
16. Are you using an extension cord as a permanent power
solution?
 17. Do you check extension cords before each use to ensure
they are in good working order with no signs of fraying,
cracking, or other damage?
18. Are you using power strips because you have too few
outlets to meet your needs?
19. Do you know the capacity of the circuit to which your
power strip is connected and the power requirements of
the equipment being plugged in?
20. Is your computer and other electronic equipment
protected from power surges by a surge protector?
21. Does your surge protector have cable and phone jacks to
provide protection for your phone, fax, modem, cable
receiver, and television?
22. Is your surge protector plugged directly into a three-prong
grounded outlet?
23. Do your entertainment center and computer equipment
have plenty of space around them for ventilation?
24. Are liquids, including drinks, kept away from electrical
items like televisions and computers?
WAKE UP TO SAFETY IN THE BEDROOM
25. Do you have working smoke alarms in each bedroom,
outside each sleeping area, and on every level of your
home?

26. Have you tested your smoke alarms this month?

27. Are combustibles like paper or fabric located near your

lamps or light bulbs?
28. Do you know the recommended bulb wattages for your
light fixtures?

29. Are you using bulbs with the correct wattage?

30. Are all light bulbs screwed securely into the sockets?

31. Is your portable air conditioner plugged into its own

dedicated circuit?
32. Have you cleaned your portable air conditioners in
preparation for the summer season?

33. Does your ceiling fan have a wobble?

34. Have you dusted/cleaned your ceiling fan recently?

 35. Do you leave portable electronic devices and/or their
battery chargers plugged in even after they are fully
charged?
BUILD A FOUNDATION OF SAFETY AT YOUR HOME
36. Does your circuit breaker box have a label to indicate
when your last electrical system inspection took place?
37. Are all of your circuit breakers labeled to indicate their
correct amperage and which outlets/circuits/rooms they
service?
38. Have you ever received even a slight shock from one of
your large appliances?
39. Do your washing machine and/or dryer move or vibrate
excessively when operating?

40. Is the area around your dryer clean and free of clutter?

41. Are all switches and outlets working properly?

42. Are any outlets or switches discolored?

43. Do any switches or outlets make crackling, buzzling, or

sizzling sounds?

44. Do plugs fit snugly into all outlets?

45. Do you have recurring tripped circuit breakers or blown

fuses?

Home Electrical Safety Recommended Answer

Kitchen Family Room Bedroom Build a Foundation of Safety
1 Yes 12 Yes 25 Yes 36 Yes
2 Yes 13 No 26 Yes 37 Yes
3 Yes 14 Yes 27 No 38 No
4 Yes 15 Yes 28 Yes 39 No
5 No 16 No 29 Yes 40 Yes
6 Yes 17 Yes 30 Yes 41 Yes
7 Yes 18 Yes 31 Yes 42 No
8 Yes 19 Yes 32 Yes 43 No
9 No 20 Yes 33 No 44 Yes
1 No 21 Yes 34 Yes 45 No
0
1 No 22 Yes 35 No
1
23 Yes
24 Yes
Add up the total correct answers at the bottom to find out how safe your household from electrical
appliances.
Kitchen Correct Answers : ______
Family Room Correct Answers : ______
Bedroom Correct Answers : ______
Build a Foundation of Safety : ______

Scoring:
43 or more correct answers: Keep up the good work! Continue to make electrical safety a priority in
your home.
39 to 42 correct answers: You’re off to a good start. Focus on the areas where you did not score as
well. A few simple changes can make a big difference in safety.
38 or fewer correct answers: You have got some work to do.
Annex B
Household Electrical Safety Evaluation Report
Electrical Hazards Priority Rank Location Possible Risks Pictures (if
possible)
Annex C
Electrical Hazards Elimination Action Plan
Electrical Interventions/Elimination Time Resources Constraints Who are
Hazards Strategy Frame Needed involved?
Annex D
Report Format
 Cover Page
o No specified format.
o You have the creative freedom to make this page.
 Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Objectives
 Methodology
 Results and Discussion
o Evaluation Report
 Conclusion
 Recommendation
o Action Plan
 References (if applicable)
 Annexes
o Questionnaire with answers
o Evaluation Report (Table)
o Action Plan (Table)
o Pictures (optional)

Formatting Style:
Font Style: Arial
Font Size: 11
Spacing: 1:15
Margin: 1’’ on all sides
Paper Size: A4
Annex E
Grading Rubrics
Criterion Exceeds Expectations Meet Expectations Below Expectations Not Acceptable
100 pts 75 pts 60 pts 40 pts
Content &  Content is clear, creative, and  Content is comprehensive and accurate  Content is not comprehensive  Content is incomplete.
Development concise and is according to what is  Major points are stated clearly and well and/or accurate.  Major points are not
50% required in the assignment supported  Major points are addressed, but clear and/or accurate
 Content and purpose of the writing are not well supported.
clear  Content is inconsistent with
regard to the purpose and
clarity of thought.
Organization &  Structure of the paper is clear and  Structure of the paper is somewhat clear  Structure of the paper is not  Organization and
Structure easy to follow and easy to follow easy to follow structure detract from
20%  Introduction provides sufficient  Introduction provides most of the  Introduction is missing or if the message of the
background on the topic and background on the topic and lightly provided, does not preview writer
previews major points introduces major points. major points  Introduction and/or
 Paragraph transition are present and  Paragraph transitions are present and  Paragraph transitions need conclusion are
logical and maintain a flow of thought logical but need a few adjustments to improvement. missing.
throughout the paper. maintain the flow of thought throughout  Conclusion is missing, if  Paragraph are
 Conclusion is logical and flows from the paper. provided, does not flow from the disjointed and lack of
the body of the paper.  Conclusion is logical and needs a few body of the paper transition of thoughts.
minor adjustments to improve flow from
the body of paper.
Format  Paper follows designated guidelines  Paper follows most of the guidelines.  Paper follows many guidelines  Paper lacks many
10%  Citations and references are used  Citations and references are used  Paper provides citations but are elements of correct
appropriately. appropriately with few minor errors. incorrectly used and prepared. formatting
 Citations and
reference are not
provided.
Grammar,  Rules of grammar, usage, and  Rules of grammar, usage, and  Paper contains few  Paper contains
Punctuations, punctuation are followed
& Spelling  No error in spelling
20%  Language is clear and precise
 Sentences display consistently
strong, varied structure
punctuation are followed with no more grammatical, punctuation and numerous
than 2 errors spelling errors (no more than 5 grammatical,
 With no more than 2 spelling errors errors total). punctuation, and
 Language is clear and but not precise;  Language lacks clarity or spelling errors.
sentences are a little varied in structure. includes the use of some jargon  Language uses jargon
or conversational tone. or conversational
tone.