Electrical safety is always the number one priority of the Corporation, and we believe you’re never too young to learn. Each year the safety department visits Grade 5 classes. Kids learn the importance of safety around electricity in a fun and stimulating environment by:
- Learning how electricity is created and brought to our homes
- Talking with an NTPC safety professional about ways to keep safe around electricity
- Watching safety videos
- Getting hands on and visual safety education through Hazard Hamlet, a live model that demonstrates potential electrical hazards and how to avoid them
Safety Tips for Kids
For safety’s sake, be careful around electricity. It may be invisible, but it can pack a powerful, sometimes deadly, punch! Know what electricity is all about.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Become a Top Agent on electrical safety around your home!
- Be Smart! Read up on electricity
- Stay Alert! Know the danger zones!
- Act Safely! Know how to respond in an emergency
- Speak Safety! Spread the word on how to be safe
For more safety tips, see the Safety Section!
What is electricity?
Imagine hundreds and hundreds of cars speeding along a narrow road. You’d never step out in the middle of that traffic, right? It’s dangerous. Electrical wires and cords can be just as dangerous.
Touching a wire that’s cracked, exposed or wet can give you a dangerous – or deadly – shock. That’s because wires carry electrical power or charges. Tiny particles called electrons are all in a rush to get through a wire. These electrons race through wires at speeds of more than 134,000 miles per hour. They are in a real hurry to get out and that’s what makes them so powerful…and so dangerous. With all this energy they can power up a light bulb or something as big as a refrigerator in an instant.
To make electricity, energy is generated from natural resources like gas, oil, wind, water or the sun and delivered through wires that you see on the poles outside your home.
You can find electrical outlets in your walls at home or at school. These outlets have been specially wired to let you use electricity safely. The electricity travels through the outlet, into your television, computer or video game and makes it work by giving it power!
Your safety depends the success of your mission.
Stay alert around DANGER ZONES and ACT SAFELY!
What are DANGER ZONES?
Electrical cords: If the plastic covering over the wires is cracked, or you can see bare wires, don’t touch!
Electrical outlet: These little holes in your walls may look perfectly harmless but they have a secret. They are the gateways to electrical current. You never want to poke your finger or stick any objects like forks or screwdrivers inside. Doing so will connect you with the charged current, resulting in shocks. Even more dangerous, you could start a fire and burn down your house.
Light sockets: If you see a light socket without a light bulb inside, don’t touch it.
Appliances: Water and electricity don’t mix. If you see an appliance near water keep away and tell an adult. Perhaps it’s a radio plugged in beside a bathtub or a toaster that’s plugged in next to a sink full of dishwater. Tell an adult about it so that they can safely move it.
Trees: Trees can grow pretty tall, and their branches can easily touch the power lines. If this occurs, the electrical current in the wires can travel down the tree! This shocking truth is a warning for you and your friends to be cautious when climbing a tree or building a tree house. Make sure the tree you choose to play in is far away from any power lines.
Power lines: Just because power lines are high off the ground, doesn’t mean they can’t interfere with your mission to play safely. If you’re flying a kite, make sure you’re far enough away that the kite or the string can’t make contact with the wires. Sometimes during a windstorm, power lines can snap off and fall to the ground. If you see a wire on the ground stay back 10 metres (30 feet) and get your parents to call NTPC so that they can fix it.
Transformers/Generators: “High Voltage” and “Keep Out” signs are there to keep you away from electrical equipment. Respect the signs, and you’ll stay out of harm’s way.
Be aware and act responsibly around electricity and you’ll be a Top Agent for a long time!
Facts and Games
Science for Kidsis a site where kids can explore the world of science. Choose the Electricity for Kids section to explore how electricity is created and conducted, and how solar, wind and geothermal energy create power we can use to keep the lights on in your community. Create a windmill, or plan a circuit.
Play Hog and Seek to learn how to save energy in your home at www.energyhog.org and download and play the Scavenger Hunt with your friends.
Learn how electricity is created, plan a transmission system, and look for safety hazards around your home with HydroQuebec and CatShock.
You can rent this energy Edukit from Science and Technology Canada