Thread: Electrical / Power Cord - Trip Hazard Liability?

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We have a semi-circular driveway and the graveyard is in the half-circle grassy area. I have a regular power cord for the glowing coals prop (I put it in front of a tombstone so it looks like the grave is dug up and on fire) and a 16ga landscape lighting cord for the 5v power for LED spotlights. It's been brought up that since the ToTs will come up one side of the driveway and down the other, there's no "safe" place to put the cord where people won't trip over it, so we should probably not use it on Halloween night due to liability issues.

I'm sure I've seen trapezoid cross section shaped strips that you can run cords through but I couldn't find one in Home Depot.. My other thought would be to suspend the cords in the air (hook to the eaves of the house then over the big tree in the front yard), but the landscape cord isn't long enough for this. Anyone ever have problems like this and/or find a good solution? If I had more time I'd try to find a way to put cords -under- the driveway.

I'd suggest running a new power circuit out to the half circle. But with the limited amount of time, I'd either duct tape the power cord along it's length to the driveway. I currently have a power cord going across my driveway, but its tucked into the expansion joint in the concrete and then I ran some duct tape over the top to keep it down.

What about going over the walkway? You would probably need more extension cords, but it would be the safest way.

Dedicated power is nice, we have some extra in front of house and in the eves, but I too would like even more outlets further out towards the sidewalk area. Do consider this for a winter project.

If you're gonna be in the haunt biz, might as well start collecting extension cords now . I too would favor going up&over.

The tape method will work OK, but can work loose (esp in wet weather), and even if secure, can still catch people if they 'shuffle' their feet. You can check office supply places for the cord-covers, but these are usually expensive, and I sorta think a bigger trip hazrd when used in the dark.

What about a bridge? Not a giant bridge, but one that requires them to take one noted step. Think a wood pallet (3' x3' ish) with a defined handrial and entrance. It funnels your TOTs (may be good or bad for your setup). But it can be decorated, stick some stick-on LEDs under the handrail, drape some moss or spider webs, etc. Anyway, now you have a full chase area to run cords under. These tie in well if you have a fence of some sort.

Or this will take more cords that then up&over approach, but take another look at the layout. Can you run a cord from WAY away or our of the way or around from some other place? Can you plug in thru a window or even to a neighbors house, and then allow cord to make it unobstructed? Any expansion joints in concrete? Are they loose enough to jam cord down in there?

I assume street with driveway loop and just grass in the center. Can cord run down to street, cross where one side of the driveway meets the street? There is usually already a vertical gap there and could be taped well into position.

Lastly, are the coals really just 5V LED? Can they be made to run on battery?

If only LEDs for now, a smaller (cheaper) 18ga ext cord will handle it. True you should be cautious for longer runs on smaller cords and if the loads are bigger. Always periodically check thru the haunt for 'warm cords', a good indicator of sumthin' not quite right.


When is wireless electricity gonna debut?

Tape it down to the driveway. Or just warn them as they leave..

the stuff you are looking for is called corduit made by wiremold it is kind of expensive and worse until it gets warm and soft it come rolled up and usually just wants to roll back up again plus it is taller than the cord duct taped to the driveway. rock concerts and stage productions use the duct tape method often also called gaffers tape to hold down the cords. if you don't mind scraping tape off your driveway you could use gorrila tape made by the people who brought us gorilla glue that certainly sticks well but regular old cloth reinforced ducttape works well. hell use the florecent orange if you want to make sure people see it

We buy extra cords and run them out and around. No one steps over any cordsin our yard/haunt.

The only trip hazard we *might* have is a spot through a tunnel that i added this year off the side of the porch. Theres landscape edging that can't be moved so I bought a small bridge to go over it. Since the tunnel is dark, I made sure theres nothing hanging or in the way and pointed a small light at the edge of the bridge. I will also be sitting close by to remind them to be careful and watch their step- also to go one at a time.

Yeah, there really is no way for me to make the cords go 'around' the walk area, at some point they still need to cross the driveway. I think for this year what I'll do is run the regular extension cord up into the tree and drop it down, and tape down the smaller landscape cord with orange tape. Thanks for the ideas!

Here is what I did to get under my sidewalk.
I went under. I dug a hole on each side of the sidewalk. Then I sledghammered a fiece of steel pipe though about a foot down. then I pulled it out and replaced it with PVC. To gain access to each end I installed an underground sprinkler valve box on each end. It works great! I now wish I had used bigger PVC than 1 1/2"
so I can get more cords through
Here's some pictures. Here's a link to my webpage. look all the way at the bottom. http://bazillionlights.com/Tech/LightsTechLights.html
I know it's a little late to do this project this year but nest year you can do this!
I bet you could get an under ground sprinkler to do this pretty reasonably....Make sure you use 2" PVC or larger....

I have used the small raised or arched plywood bridge idea before but most of the time if I have to cross my walk path I just use a good heavy door mat, the commercial type with the rubber backing and lay it over any cords or hoses, If you are powering that little of lighting you could also just use a power inverter and a boat battary, then just charge the battary up each day, will last for hours, another idea could be to consturct a pvc pipe truss that they would walk under and paint it black and hang more moss or lights off of it also. One thing i have always done to test my wow factor and path obsticals is I walk on my knees the pathway, that is the scaries viewpoint in my creations. I would not use the prefab wireways, those are not designed for trip protection for nonattentive children, they are more to protect wires from damage.