Safety Tips During an Outage

Safety Tips During an Outage

• Avoid light sources that require a flame or fire (use flashlights or battery-powered lanterns).
• If you use a portable generator, isolate it from our lines. Generators that are not isolated can feed back into our electrical system and possibly electrocute anyone coming in contact with those wires. If you don't have a double throw transfer switch installed, plug appliances directly into the generator using a properly sized extension cord. Click here for more on generator safety.
• Avoid cooking inside with charcoal. Use grills safely and only outdoors in well-ventilated areas.
• Have a contingency plan in place for patients living in your home who have a medical necessity for electricity. This includes backup power, extra supplies or an alternate location until the outage is over.
• Don't try to remove or clear trees tangled in power lines.
• Stay away from any downed lines and call your power company or 911.
• Do not touch a power line with any other object (brooms, boards, plastic, etc.) and do not touch any object in contact with a power line (car, tree limb, person, etc.).
• Turn on a porch light so the co-op workers know when your power has been restored.

Food Safety and Power Outages

The USDA recommendations for maintaining food safety during power outages:

• Never taste a food to determine its safety!
• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperatures.
• Each time the door is opened, a significant amount of cold air is lost.
• The refrigerator will keep food cold safely for about four hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full and the door remains closed.)
• Food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40° F or below.
• Obtain dry or block ice to keep your refrigerator and freezer as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time. Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic-foot full freezer for two days.
• If the power has been out for several days then check the temperature of the freezer with an appliance thermometer or food thermometer. If the food still contains ice crystals or is at 40° F or below then the food is safe.
• If a thermometer has not been kept in the freezer then check each package of food to determine its safety. If the food still contains ice crystals then the food is safe.
• Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, eggs, leftovers and deli items after four hours without power. 
• When in Doubt, Throw it Out!

24/7 Food Safety Hotline: 1.888.764.6854