Electricity Safety Week Goes Virtual

7 September 2020

Volunteers from Ausgrid will present potentially lifesaving lessons to NSW primary school students online as part of Electricity Safety Week 2020 which begins today.

The program is run in schools each year and teaches children how to stay safe around electricity.

This year’s presentations will be delivered online by Ausgrid volunteers due to COVID-19.

Ausgrid Chief Operating Officer Trevor Armstrong said the lessons provide a vital introduction to electrical safety.

“A team of volunteers from across Ausgrid will talk to students about dangerous hazards such as fallen powerlines and overloaded power points.”

805 primary schools in Ausgrid’s network have registered to take part in this year’s event which runs from 7-11 September.

“One of the key things we teach is about the dangers of fallen wires and that is something everyone needs to know,” Mr Armstrong said.

“Electricity can jump and that is why we say if you see a fallen powerline always assume it is still live, never approach and stay at least 8 metres or 2 car lengths away.

“Knowing how to avoid electric shocks could save your life or that of a loved one and it’s never too early to learn how to be safe around electricity.”

Ausgrid has also released new images of some of the most dangerous situations crews have been called to in a bid to highlight key safety messages.

“Fallen powerlines can kill you and in some of these cases where people take unnecessary risks, we’ve only avoided a tragedy by sheer luck. There’s no such thing as a safe fallen wire, you don’t get a second chance with electricity.”

Photos of dangerous situations from our crews

Electricity isn't child's play. Power was switched off after an Ausgrid crew found this cubby house attached to a private pole.

This trampoline went flying during a storm and ended up wrapped around powerlines and caused an outage.

  

The driver of this truck got a rude shock after raising the tipper straight into overhead powerlines.