Electrical Safety

We care about your safety when dealing with electricity directly. Please follow these guidelines to make sure that you and your family are cautious and avoid bodily harm when working with power sources.

Call Before You Dig

811 is the phone number you call before digging to protect yourself and others from unintentionally hitting underground utility lines. There are millions of miles of buried utilities beneath the surface of the earth that are vital to everyday living like water, electricity and natural gas. Learn more at www.sc811.com

Safety Materials

Louie the Lightning Bug Activity Book

A fun way to learn about safety around electricity. Download and/or print the pdf.

Home Safety Checklist

A room-by-room electric safety checklist for your home. Download and/or print the pdf.

Energy Smart SC

Visit Energy Smart SC at https://energysmartsc.org/electrical-safety/ for educational resources on home electrical safety, safety during disasters, and resources geared toward children.

Power Line Safety

Accidentally contacting a power line can be dangerous and in some cases, even deadly. Your cooperative wants to help our members stay safe around power lines.

Keep a safe distance

Whether you are playing outdoors with your children or working on landscaping projects, keep a safe distance from power lines and other equipment your co-op uses to get electricity to your home.

Always remember to:

• Stay away from power lines, meters, transformers and electrical boxes.
• Don’t climb trees near power lines.
• Never fly kits, remote control airplanes or balloons near power lines.
• If you get something stuck in a power line, call Broad River Electric Cooperative to get it.
• Keep a safe distance from overhead power lines when working with ladders or installing objects such as antennas.
• Never touch or go near a downed power line.
• Don’t touch anything that may be touching a downed wire, such as a car.
• Keep children and pets away.

Encountering power lines while in a vehicle

If a power line falls on a car, you should stay inside the vehicle. This is the safest place to stay. Warn people not to touch the car or the line. Call or ask someone to call BREC and emergency services. The only circumstance in which you should consider leaving a car that is in contact with a downed power line is if the vehicle catches on fire. Open the door. Do not step out of the car. You may receive a shock. Instead, jump free of the car so that your body clears the vehicle before touching the ground. Once you clear the car, shuffle at least 50 feet away, with both feet on the ground.

• As in all power line related emergencies, call for help immediately by dialing 911 or call your electric utility company's Service Center/Dispatch Office.

• Do not try to help someone else from the car while you are standing on the ground.