Abundant energy sources power our houses, and they contribute so much to our lives, yet we never reflect on their safety needs. In India, research has revealed that a number of fire hazards and electrical mishaps occur due to electrical faults/ failures every year. There were concerns about electrocution and electric accidents at homes and buildings where the safety provision was ignored or not emphasized. The casualties and huge economic loss could have been avoided with a proper electrical plan adhering to standard electrical norms that care about the essential installation that can provide a stable platform for sensitive electric/ electronic equipment.
Basic Understanding on How Electric Fire is Initiated?
As per the NFPA safety concerned team, it was found that most electrical-related issues arise from faulty, loose, damaged wiring or improper provision of safety installations. Installing an electric or electronic system is quite necessary, but ground rules on safety should be followed to ensure reliability and efficiency. Buildings/ structures with the age of more than 10 years should be subjected to inspection to ensure the proper working of electric systems and the safety requirement. Further up-gradation as per recommended norms should be adopted.
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To Ensure the Electric Safety, Below Mentioned are the Golden Rules to Be Followed:
- Check that the wattage in all the fixtures and appliances are appropriate as per the safety regulations. Pay attention and check the wattage ratings mentioned on the fixtures and appliances otherwise, it may cause a catastrophic event.
- Lightning strikes are not stranger here in India, which is a major cause of electrical problems. Without living in an area prone to these natural electric discharges where millions of lightning strikes are recorded each year, you must check for a protection system installed. Otherwise, it can disrupt lives in significant ways. You should install a conventional lightning protection system designed as per the risk calculation because lightning may strike pretty much anywhere on the ground, causing an electrical surge.
Along with lightning, frequent switching activity is another major source for surge/transient/overvoltage generation that might create bigger problems and further damage devices or initiate fire hazards. Hence, along with external lightning protection installation for a particular structure, an application-specific surge protector device should also be installed for complete protection.
- Signs such as lights flickering on the flipping switch may indicate that the circuit has blown off or there may be some issue with the wiring system or the outlet, which can cause a larger electric problem in your facility if ignored and not addressed.
- Outlets must be inspected - Loose or corroded outlets should be fixed. This must be done by an electrical expert utilizing outlet shims, a wire tester and a screwdriver, during which the breaker must be off.
- Pay attention if the outlets are warm or keep heating up. This must be fixed. Otherwise, fire can be initiated or even bigger dangers may arise.
- Electrocution or electricity-related issues could have been avoided with proper earthing/ ground installation, i.e., proper maintenance free chemical earthing system as per IS 3043: 2018 and NBC 2016 which includes copper bonded steel rod as the conductor and earth enhancement material backfill compound. Non-provision or improper earthing can be dangerous for sensitive appliances/equipment, overworked sockets and cables where it can cause gradual system failure, electrocution, fire hazards or any other such hazard.
- Electric short-circuiting produces excess voltage, and passing through a power source can damage appliances and cause personal injury or electrocution.
- Frequent tripping of circuit breakers should not be ignored just because it is tripping and protecting your devices. Frequent tripping of these sacrificial devices should be checked to find the cause of tripping, and further, the issue should be fixed.
We are quite cavalier with how we handle our gadgets, using any cable that comes our way, buying cheap replacements for original chargers and data transfer cables.Certain power plugs come in different sizes, which automatically make them impossible to plug into a standard socket.
However, it can get confusing if the plug actually fits the average socket.One of the most valuable electronic items we have in our house these days is a power strip.
It gives us the required sockets to support the ever-expanding collection of gadgets.They are convenient for two reasons, one being that you can have more sockets in place of one wall socket, and the other being portability.The portability of such strips also makes it useful outside the house:Traveling:If you are traveling (ideally within the country), you can carry a power strip along for quick charges for your phone and laptop, or even your camera.
This way, you can always have your devices charged even if your hotel room doesn’t have enough power outlets.Content Creation:Writing is not the only form of content creation any more, you need more than paper to get it done.
You can take videos, write, and photograph on the go, so your devices have to have enough battery.
Dorm rooms don’t generally have more than two power sockets, and those are not enough if you have roommates.However, as convenient as they are, you can only use them for certain appliances.
