Safety tips for winter holidays decorations

Bydaniela

red panic button, winter safety

Safety tips for winter holidays decorations

We all love to decorate our houses for the holidays, no matter what we celebrate this time of year.

It is a fun and joyful moment to share with our closed ones, but this doesn’t mean we have to overlook safety. According to statistics, each year there are around 900 home fires caused to holiday decorations and Christmas trees.

Also, around 15,000 people get injured every year due to cuts, falls, back strains and other home accidents related to holiday decoration activities.

To stay safe and enjoy the winter holidays in full safety, here are a few protection measures you can take:

• Make sure your lights, electrical cords, decorations and extension cords are properly functioning and are not damaged before you installing and using them.
• Keep the Christmas tree – if natural – far away from heat sources or open flames.
• If you use a plastic Christmas tree make sure it is fire proof.
• Outdoor lights and decorations should always be plugged in circuits protected by Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters.

• When you leave the house make sure all your indoor and outdoor electrical lights and decorations are turned off. Same goes at night when you go to sleep.
• Never leave burning candles unsupervised and never light up candles in Christmas trees, alive or plastic.
• Also, keep candles far away from the reach of children and pets.
• Make sure the cats have a limited interaction time with the Christmas tree – while some prefer to have the Christmas tree in a room where the cats and other pets have no access at all, if this is not a possibility for you, at least don’t leave pets unsupervised in the room with the tree and other decorations.
• If you use a ladder to install indoor and outdoor decorations, make sure it is stable, it has no chance of slipping and you have at least another person around to assist you in case you slip or fall.
• Water the tree at least three times a week if it is a natural tree – dry trees can catch fire way faster in comparison to well hydrated ones.
• Avoid decorations that look like candy, sweets or food if you have small children and pets to avoid unfortunate accidents.
• Some decorative plants, while beautiful, are poisonous, so keep them out of the reach of children and pets.
• Don’t connect more than three strings of incandescent lights together.
• Use unbreakable decorations to mitigate damages if kids or pets accidentally bump into the Christmas tree or other decorations.
• Install the Red Panic Button app on your phone and use it in case you suffer from a house accident while decorating. In case you can’t speak or the lines are busy to connect to your emergency services and you are alone in the house, the Panic Button app allows you to send a distress message to your preset list of emergency contacts including your location so friends and family members can come and give you the assistance you need.

What other safety measures do you employ when decorating your home for the holidays? Do you have other tips and recommendations to share?