Stay safe around power lines when doing jobs at your place

If you’re catching up on home maintenance but working around electricity, there are a few things to watch out for. Any work around electricity lines can be dangerous. Here are some important tips to help you stay safe while you do common jobs around your property.

Power Lines Safety For Outdoor Maintenance

If you’re checking or cleaning gutters and downpipes, painting the roof or eaves, or doing a job anywhere near the connection of the power lines to your house, it’s important to know what to do to stay safe.

Sometimes the power line can cross your property and drop quite low or go across other structures such as a garage or a shed. Be aware of the location of the service line to your home when you’re planning how to do a job.

If you’re planting trees, building fences or doing jobs on something tall in your driveway, it’s always important to look up and around you to see where power lines are and keep away from them.

If you need to work near your service line, you can temporarily disconnect the power for safety. The safety disconnection service can be provided by one of Network Tasman’s approved contractors, listed on our website at www.networktasman.co.nz/new-connections

Washing Walls Near Meter Boxes

Remember, water and electricity don’t mix. So if you’re water blasting your external walls keep away from the meter box. Water inside the meter box can cause problems.

Tree Trimming Around Lines

Be aware of the danger of trees coming into contact with the service line that goes from power poles on the street to your property. If you think your trees are getting too close to the line, then it’s important to get the right advice and help to trim them back.

Option 1: You can contact a network trained arborist to take care of the work as they’re trained to carry out this work safely. There is a list of network trained arborists on our website (visit www.networktasman.co.nz/staysafe/trees-andpowerlines)

Option 2: Option 2: The power can be temporarily disconnected using the safety disconnection service so you or your contractor (e.g. a gardener) can do the work safely (visit www.networktasman.co.nz/staysafe/smart-thinking)

If you have a question you can email the specialists in our team at trees@networktasman.co.nz. We’re happy to provide advice to help keep you safe.