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Safety Solutions at Work asked a safety expert about fire safety for the holiday season. This newsletter teaches us how to keep our family and home safe for Christmas.

Fire Safety for your Family at Christmas

Christmas is fast approaching and the excitement is palpable. This festival is always characterized by gifts, Christmas trees, lights and Santa Claus among others. It offers family members an opportunity to bond with one another and show their appreciation for each other. During Christmas, people allow themselves to be immersed in the excitement, which is quite a good distraction from workplace-related stress.

Regardless of the happiness associated with Christmas, safety should be an important priority for all families. In particular, fire safety is important to ensure that the home is rid of any fire accidents. Many people have sought treatment on Christmas day for injuries, cuts and falls related to fire incidents.

Tips to maintain fire safety in the home

The following tips could be helpful when seeking to keep the home free from fires:

1. Purchase the right Christmas tree
Most families would opt for artificial Christmas trees due to their benefits. When doing this, it is important that they go for a fire-resistant variety. Such trees are usually easy to extinguish in the event that they catch fire.

The freshness of the tree is another important ingredient of a good Christmas tree. Green is always the color that indicates the freshness of a Christmas tree. They also have needles that do not break and could not easily be pulled from the branches. Such trees are usually sticky as a result of being coated with resin and do not lose a lot of needles when tapped on the floor.

All Christmas trees should be placed away from radiators and fireplaces. The stand should be consistently watered and kept out of doorways and foot traffic.

2. Think about the Christmas lights
The perfect Christmas lights are those that have undergone laboratory testing and comply with safety standards. Family members should also ensure that the lights do not have bare wires, loose connections, cracked sockets or damaged sets. The maximum number of standard-size lights should be three for every extension cord.

Fire safety can also be achieved by avoiding the use of electric lights on metallic Christmas trees. There is the risk of electrocution when someone touches the tree after becoming charged from contact with the lights.

Outdoor lights should also be securely fastened onto house walls, trees or other firm supports. This shields the lights from wind damage. The fastening process should only be done using staples. These lights should be turned off at bedtime or when nobody is in the house.

When purchasing Christmas lights, people must also remember to purchase GFCIs (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters). These devices would provide shock against electronic shocks by circuits that hold outdoor electrical lights.

3. Use decorations correctly
When trimming a tree, it is recommended that families should use non-combustible materials. Examples of such materials include non-leaded metals plastic or tinsel. People should also remember not to bring lighted candles in contact with the Christmas tree. Closely related to this fact is the fact that requires families to use non-flammable candle holders.

Children should also be kept out of reach of harmful decorations. Such decorations include breakable or sharp ones that could be ingested or inhaled by the young ones.

4.Maintain the fireplace
All flammable materials should be kept away from fireplaces. These include materials such as, Christmas decorations, lights or trees. Wrapping papers should also not be burned in the fireplace as they could ignite unexpectedly and cause a lot of damage.

 

Nisha represents a site called http://www.aplclothing.co.uk. She enjoys writing about health and safety in the work/home.