Home safety is essential to successfully aging in place.  Home safety can take many forms, from preventing falls in the kitchen and bathroom, to preventing accidental fires.  As the holidays approach, we need to continue to pay close attention to home safety and fall prevention.  This time of year, we love decorating our homes for the season,  however, in our desire to be festive, we sometimes overlook safety issues.  The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that each year, 3,300 residential fires originate as a result of extension cords.  These fires kill an estimated 50 people and injure another 270.  The most frequent cause of these fires are overloading, short circuits, and/or misuse use of extension cords.

Important holiday safety decorating tips:

• When decorating, use a step stool/ladder, not a chair. If possible, get someone younger to help hang higher decorations
• When decorating your tree make sure you clear the pathway around the tree, moving  of boxes and extension cords If you have a real tree, don’t allow the water dry out
• Check your holiday lights before you put them on your tree, if they don’t work, don’t use them
• If bulbs on your lights are missing, replace them Use the right lights for the right area, some lights are just for indoors while others are for the outdoors, make sure yours are in the right place
• Don’t connect too many lights to one extension cord (no more than 3)
• The CPSC recommends that when disconnecting a cord you should pull the plug rather than the cord itself
• The CPSC recommends that you never use an extension cord while it’s coiled or looped. Also, you should never cover any part of an extension cord with newspapers, clothing, rugs, or any objects while the cord is in use.
• Unplug your tree before you go to bed and when you are not at home

Remember these important home safety decorating tips to make your holidays safer.  For more information, click here

Sources:  Consumer Product Safety Commission

Happy Holidays