We’re Back and with BIG news!!!!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their summer vacations as much as all of us here at ES&C!!! Summer for us was filled with camping, farming, sports, bird watching, golfing and plenty of beautiful weather and sunshine. Now that the school year is back up and running we are super excited to get back into the grind of things and start visiting more schools once again! So far this year we have already visited Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Barrie, Richmond Hill, Maple, Tottenham, Ottawa, Orleans, Brantford, Woodbridge, Gloucester, Nepean, North Bay, Pickering and Port Hope. We were fortunate enough to once again take part in the Orono Fair as well as Bowmanville’s Safety Day.

But our most exciting news was being awarded the Chief Public Safety Officer’s Special Recognition Award at the Electrical Safety Authority’s annual awards banquet on September 26th at the Living Arts Center in Mississauga. This was a huge honour for us and such a privilege to be recognized amongst leaders in the industry for having a great impact on students throughout Ontario in spreading the safety message. We were able to meet the leaders from several distribution companies and through that networking we will expand our area to visit even more schools. So, if we haven’t been to your school please call us and we can see if your eligible and set-up a date!

Now that we’ve completed our first month of school, it is also a great idea to review some important classroom and school ground safety tips:

1. No matter what anyone tells you, NEVER stick anything in electrical outlets or light bulb socket. Even if someone tells you the outlet isn’t working. This includes writing utensils such as pens, pencils or markers, paperclips or fingers!!! The Electrical Safety Foundation International reports that, on average 7 children are sent to the Emergency Room each day due to electrical shock or burn injuries caused by tampering with electrical wall outlets.
2. Many classes have sinks in them for the students to use but it’s important to remember to dry your hands completely before plugging anything into an outlet. Remember, electricity travels through water so if your hands are wet and they get the prongs on the plug wet, then the electricity can travel to you and cause serious injury.
3. When unplugging an cord from an outlet remember to grab the plastic base – do not pull or yank on the cord. This could cause damage to the cord, the appliance, the outlet or YOU!
4.  If you see a pad-mount transformer (one of those big green boxes) while waiting for the bus or near the school be sure not to climb on it or try to open it.
5. Sometimes kids may think it’s cool to throw something onto the powerline, such as shoes. It’s never a good idea, even if your dared to do it, don’t!

Keep all of these safety tips in mind and you’ll be sure to have a fun and safe school year!!!