Stay focused with our important tips that will take you safely throughout the year.
It’s easy to get busy and distracted during the holidays. That’s why accidents, including fires, spike during this season, which can lead to an accident, disability of a loss of life. These important tips can help keep everyone safe.
1. Be cautious with candles
Help reduce the risk by setting candles at least a foot away from anything flammable. Roughly three in five candle fires start because they’re too close to items such as curtains and gifts. Never leave a candle unattended and remember to blow out all candles when you leave the house or go to bed. Or, choose battery-powered LED “candles” — they flicker realistically.
2. Set timers when cooking
A main cause of holiday-season residential fires is food left unattended. Use more than one timer to track a multitude of frying, boiling, and baking activities. Label each timer with a sticky note or have a pen and paper handy: When one goes off, you’ll know it’s the cooker that need attention, not the stove.
3. Update alarms
Replace smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries once a year. If it’s been a while since you checked your units, this is the time to do it. In the future, test them every month.
4. Outdoor lighting
While hanging outdoor decorations especially lighting, inspect the sockets to ensure that they are sealed well and protected from water and dust. Unprotected sockets can cause serious injury
5. Buy or check your fire extinguisher
If you don’t already own a fire extinguisher — or the one you have is more than six years old — get an ABC unit, which can handle all three classes of fire, and keep it in or near the kitchen. If you have an expensive TV or a computer, consider a carbon dioxide (CO2) extinguisher, which is less likely to harm electronics.
If you and your fire extinguisher can’t tackle a blaze, head outside immediately and call your local emergency hotline number from your cell phone or a neighbor’s phone.
6. Skip the ribbons on presents
Gifts wrapped with colorful ribbons (or yarn or string) look like toys to pets. If swallowed, those colorful adornments could mean a trip to a pediatric or a pet emergency clinic.
7. Keep kids away from the stove
Before holiday guests arrive, use masking tape to mark safety zone around the stove to show kids where they aren’t allowed to roam. If you don’t want tape on the floor, appoint an adult to act as a kid wrangler.
8. Keep copies of important documents
Make copies of both sides of the cards you commonly carry, such as driver’s license, credit and debit cards, and insurance identification. If your wallet is lost or stolen while traveling during the holidays, you’ll be prepared to notify the card issuers.
9. Pack a first aid car-kit
Waiting for an ambulance after an accident can take a few minutes. It would be best to have a first aid kit just in case of emergency all the time.
10. Designate a driver for road trips
Plan road-trips safely by knowing ahead of time how you will get home later and who will be responsible to get people together to hit the road.