Home Safety For The Holidays

The holiday season is upon us, and beyond ensuring you get your loved ones the right gifts, being able to create the perfect and safest environment within your home is important.

The following are some important safety considerations to make for your home, to keep your family safe (with any placed decorations) and extended family and friends comfortable (during any entertaining during the season):

Decorations

- Take special care to avoid decorations that are sharp or breakable, keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of children to avoid the child swallowing or inhaling small pieces, and avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food, which may tempt a child to eat them.

- Indoors or outside, always use lights that have been tested for safety by a recognized testing laboratory that indicates conformance with safety standards.

- Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections, and throw out damaged sets.

Use no more than three standard-size sets of lights per single extension cord.

Safer Fireplaces

- Before lighting any fire, remove all greens, boughs, papers, and other decorations from fireplace area. Check to see that the flue is open.

- Do not burn wrapping papers in the fireplace. A flash fire may result, as wrappings ignite suddenly and burn intensely.

Entertaining

- Foods that require refrigeration should never be left at room temperature for more than two hours.

- Be sure to keep hot liquids and foods away from the edges of counters and tables, where they can be easily knocked over by a young child’s exploring hands.

- Clean up immediately after a holiday party. A toddler could rise early and choke on leftover food or come in contact with alcohol or tobacco.

(source: rd.com)

When you have peace of mind in the home, you can spend your time focusing on what's most important: making memories with loved ones.