“Look Up & Live” Contact with overhead power lines can be deadly
“Look Up & Live” Contact with overhead power lines can be deadly
Date Published

Look Up & Live

Contact with overhead power lines can be deadly

 

Fall. Yellow, orange and red leaves create a beautiful canvas each year is southwest Colorado. Unfortunately, these leaves don’t stay on the trees forever. In most cases, the leaves end up in your home’s gutters. Numerous individuals are injured each year by accidental contact with overhead power lines while using a ladder to remove leaves from their home’s gutters or while working on the roof. In some cases, this incidental contact can even be deadly.

 

These accidents could have been prevented if the individual had taken the time to look up and inspect their work area for overhead power lines. So, before you grab the ladder out of your garage, take a few minutes and identify the location of all overhead power lines on or near your property. This includes all contact points to your house or structures on the property. Always look up and live.

 

There are many occasions when you need to exercise caution around overhead power lines. These instances include:

  • Working from ladders, trestles or scaffolding

  • Installing a television antenna or satellite dish

  • Installing or removing house siding, trim or windows

  • Pruning or cutting trees

  • Operating heavy machinery and other tall equipment

  • Carrying or lifting tall objects

  • Establishing irrigators and operating farm equipment

  • Raising or lowering masts on sailing boats

  • Retrieving play items from roofs, gutters and awnings

  • Flying kites and climbing trees close to power lines

 

When operating heavy machinery near overhead power lines, follow the safety tips below and consider the following:

  • Check in advance that machinery will travel clear of overhead and stay wires

  • Place ground markers near and directly under overhead power lines

  • Place stickers on heavy machinery to remind operators to look up and live