‘Tis the season for falling off ladders, lighting trees on fire, and cutting fingers on broken ornaments…which is why safety should be at the top of your holiday list. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has created 12 Ways to Celebrate Safely to help you avoid perils this holiday season:
12. Take special care with sharp, weighted, or breakable decorations. Lacerations were among the top reported decoration-related injuries last year.
11. Avoid trimmings that resemble food or candy that may tempt a child to mouth or swallow them.
10. Place decorations with small removable parts that can pose a choking hazard to young children out of reach.
9. Purchase only holiday light sets that bear the marking of a safety testing laboratory.
8. Examine new and old light sets for damage. Discard sets with cracked or broken sockets, frayed or exposed wires, and loose connections.
7. Keep burning candles in sight and away from places where kids and pets can knock them over.
6. Place lighted candles away from items that can catch fire, such as trees, other evergreens, decorations, curtains and furniture.
5. Look for a label that reads “fire resistant” when purchasing an artificial tree. Check live trees for freshness.
4. Place live Christmas trees away from heat sources, and keep trees well watered.
3. Watch this dramatic fire demonstration of what happens when a dry tree comes in contact with a heat source.
2. Use caution on ladders. Read our Ladder Safety 101 blog for tips to prevent ladder falls this season. 41% of holiday decorating injuries involve falls. Falls from ladders account for about half of these incidents.
1. Start with safety in mind. Download and follow CPSC’s Holiday Decoration Safety Tips guide.
I thought about holiday safety yesterday when a friend of mine sustained a torn cornea from a bush branch while putting out the outside lights. They should make adorable holiday themed safety glasses and goggles, I think…