\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Inspect all electrical cords and power strips for DAMAGE before use.\u00a0\u00a0Look for visible signs of damage such as\u00a0cracked sockets, damaged outer jacket insulation,\u00a0missing ground pins of three-prong plugs or burnt or melted insulation\/plugs.\u00a0 If the cord is damaged, immediately remove the cord from service, cut it up and discard\u00a0\u2013\u00a0DO NOT USE<\/i>\u00a0IT<\/i>!!!<\/i><\/li>\n
- Ensure\u00a0extension cords\u00a0are properly rated for their intended\u00a0use and\u00a0meet or exceed the power needs of the appliance being used.\u00a0 If any part of the extension cord is \u201chot\u201d while in use, this may be an indication that the cord is\u00a0being\u00a0overloaded and powering equipment beyond its rated capacity.\u00a0The\u00a0capacity\u00a0of an extension cord, or\u00a0power\u00a0rating,\u00a0can be identified\u00a0by looking at the tag on the cord or its packaging.<\/li>\n
- Use\u00a0surge protectors to protect sensitive equipment, such as computers, printers, cell phones and similar desktop equipment.<\/li>\n
- Only use cords that have been listed by a recognized national testing laboratory, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Intertek (ETL) or CSA-International (CSA).<\/li>\n
- Do not use extension cords\u00a0or power strips\u00a0with fans,\u00a0pumps or\u00a0appliances with heating elements\u00a0or compressors.\u00a0 Plug this type of equipment directly to a wall outlet.<\/li>\n
- Do not connect more than one power strip or surge protector into one, single duplex wall outlet.<\/li>\n
- Do not substitute extension cords for permanent wiring.\u00a0Extension cords\u00a0are only acceptable\u00a0to provide power to equipment on a temporary basis.\u00a0\u00a0If more outlets are needed in your laboratory, submit a work request to Facilities.<\/li>\n
- Avoid using\u00a02-prong to 3-prong adapters.\u00a0\u00a0\u202f<\/b>A plug adapter\u00a0that is grounded\u00a0will not\u00a0provide protection\u00a0against an ungrounded electrical box or a faulty appliance,\u00a0possibly creating an electrocution or shock hazard.<\/li>\n
- Never use an extension cord designed for household use in a laboratory or office\u00a0area.\u00a0\u00a0Emory recommends using extension cords with\u00a0a minimum of 14-gauge wiring (14 AWG), depending on the power needs of the connected equipment.\u00a0The wire size is imprinted on the cord\u2019s surface.<\/li>\n
- Never plug extension cords or power strips into one another.\u00a0 This is called \u201cdaisy-chaining\u201d and can overload the circuit creating a potential fire hazard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Examples of Electrical Hazards<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/files\/2019\/05\/daisy-chaining.jpg\")
<\/a>Daisy-chaining<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/files\/2019\/05\/damaged-electrical-cord.jpg\")
<\/a>Damaged Electrical Cord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/files\/2019\/05\/overloaded-power-strip.jpg\")
<\/a>Overloaded power strip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Extension and Power Strip\/Surge Protector Safety The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSO) estimates that electrical power cords cause about 4,000 injuries and 3,300 residential fires each year. The most frequent causes of such fires are short circuits, overloading, damage and\/or misuse of these power cords. Misused and damaged power cords have caused painful injuries, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5897,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[206,74,89,122,278],"class_list":["post-5783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ehso","tag-ehso","tag-electrical-safety","tag-inspections","tag-lab-safety","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5897"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5783"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5821,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5783\/revisions\/5821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/ranews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}