Eskom’s new campaign for Electricity Safety Month focuses on unsafe and illegal connections

Eskom kicked off “Electricity Safety Month” with the launch of the new #MamaKnowsBest campaign aimed at encouraging families and communities to use electricity safely and to stop dangerous, unsafe electricity practices.

“August is also Women’s Month and this year we would like to honour women’s strength, intelligence and immense contribution to the well-being of our society,” said Miranda Moahlodi, Senior Manager for Occupational Health and Safety at Eskom.

ALSO READ: Eskom teaches public to beware of illegal electricity connections

“Mothers often conceive the smartest ideas on keeping their families safe and we can surely all benefit from learning from each other.

“Since we started with the different stages of lockdown, we’ve noticed an increase in illegal connections which has been coupled with a surge in electrocutions. This shows that for many South Africans, electricity safety is not the foremost concern.

“We aim to change that with this campaign and our hope is that South Africans realise that individual actions can have a profound impact on whole communities,” Ms Moahlodi said, adding that illegal connections had resulted in many families losing loved ones.

Electricity Safety Month is dedicated to raising awareness about the safe use of electricity.

By committing 31 days once a year, Eskom aims to clearly place electrical safety in the limelight and forefront of peoples’ minds to assist in meeting their objective of ensuring zero harm to members of the public, employees and contractors.

The main risks associated with illegal connections are that the illegal wires are usually not connected to an earth leakage unit or other electrical protection which will “trip” or break the current if somebody touches a live wire.

The insulation around these live wires is usually insufficient to protect the person touching the wires from getting shocked.

If one combines this with the lack of earth leakage, then there is a very dangerous – and often fatal – situation and so many people are shocked or killed in this way every year.

“Communities also feel the need to protect the connections that are made illegally and when they see Eskom vehicles entering their neighbourhoods, they attack or intimidate our employees. We understand that cutting illegal connections may appear harsh, but the reality of it is that this is very necessary,” said Ms Moahlodi.

“We appeal to communities to help us curb the aggression and violence that Eskom employees are subjected to. At the end of the day we also have families who are waiting for us at home after a day at work like everyone else.”

People are encouraged to report any illegal connections, exposed wires or any electrical wiring that appears dangerous to Eskom or their local municipality.

By reporting these matters, it could save the life of a child or other person that was not aware of such dangers in their community.

For more information on the #MamaKnowsBest campaign or for other safety tips, visit Eskom’s website and official social media pages.

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