Metallic Balloon Safety
Metallic Mylar balloons are great indoors and can brighten the bleakest and most dreary winter day. They are great at birthdays, graduations and other special occasions.
However, you must know how to use and dispose of metallic balloons properly, or you could cause a power outage and damage to utility electrical equipment.
Because of the metallic coating, they conduct electricity well and can short out circuits in your community’s power system.
You and your neighbors could lose power, traffic lights could go out, and entire blocks of homes and businesses could go dark. To prevent this, keep metallic balloons secured. When done with the balloons, deflate them and throw them in the garbage. Do not release them.
Here are tips to help you make sure metallic balloons are used and disposed of safely:
- Always tie your balloons down or use a weight.
- Do not intentionally release the balloons.
- It is safest to keep metallic balloons inside. In fact, some parks have banned metallic balloons on their property, so be aware of these warnings.
- If you see a metallic balloon or another toy in contact with a power line, never attempt to disconnect it yourself. Notify the electrical company immediately. Always assume power lines are live, and keep yourself and all other items at least 10 feet away from power lines.
- Never tie a metallic ribbon on your balloon. Also, never tie a metallic balloon to a child’s wrist. If the balloon comes in contact with electricity, it will travel through the balloon and into the child. This could cause a serious injury or even death.
- When no longer in use, puncture and deflate the balloons before creatively reusing or disposing of them.
Metallic balloons have been known to float for several days before losing their helium and returning to Earth. If one lands within the fence of an electric utility substation, it can cause electrical fires and untold dollars’ worth of damage after high transmission circuitry goes down.
