PSEG Long Island Announces 'Stay Aware, Stay Alive: Always Look Up' High-Voltage Overhead Lines Safety Awareness Campaign

May is National Electrical Safety Month

(UNIONDALE, N.Y. – May 1, 2025) Because safety is its top priority, PSEG Long Island today announced a brand new multimedia campaign to help the public stay safe while working in close proximity to high-voltage overhead power lines. 

The Stay Aware, Stay Alive: Always Look Up campaign is an effort by PSEG Long Island to educate contractors, laborers, homeowners and the general public about properly assessing the work area before beginning a project near overhead electric lines and to follow the “10/10” rule: If there are power lines within 10 feet of the proposed work area, PSEG Long Island should be contacted at least 10 business days before the proposed project begins. 

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Bureau of Labor Statistics, contact with overhead electric lines makes up the largest percentage of all workplace electrical fatalities. Identifying the locations of overhead high-voltage electric lines, and keeping an appropriate distance from them, can prevent serious injury or worse. It can also prevent power outages. In addition, in accordance with New York State’s “high-voltage proximity act,” not contacting PSEG Long Island before working in close proximity to lines could bring civil penalties and fines.

“PSEG Long Island’s new Stay Aware, Stay Alive: Always Look Up campaign is aimed at keeping people safe by educating them to identify overhead power lines before they embark on an outdoor project. As National Electrical Safety Month begins today, we are asking contractors, landscapers, homeowners and the general public to look up – before starting a project – to ensure there are no overhead power lines in or near trees or close to homes or buildings at their worksites. Safety and reliability go hand-in-hand and over the past decade PSEG Long Island has become the number one overhead electric service provider in reliability in New York State.” 

-  David Lyons, interim president and COO, PSEG Long Island

After the new campaign was announced Thursday at the company’s Hicksville operating yard, PSEG Long Island’s academy trainers presented a powerful demonstration – with sparks and flames – to illustrate what could happen if a raised truck bed, elevated scaffolding, extended ladder, pool skimmer and other items come in contact with high-voltage overhead power lines.  

Before embarking on a project where there are power lines within 10 feet of the proposed workspace, PSEG Long Island encourages people to contact its Building and Renovation Services Department at 844-341-6378 or brsli@pseg.com at least 10 business days prior the start of the project. For more information on the Stay Aware, Stay Alive: Always Look Up safety campaign and to learn how to stay safe, visit psegliny.com/safetyandreliability/safetytips/proximity.

Photo Caption: A PSEG Long Island employee demonstrates the flow of electricity that can occur when a metal pool skimmer comes into contact with overhead electric lines at the company's training academy in Hicksville.

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PSEG Long Island
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a long-term contract.  PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company.