The Hidden Dangers of Hanging Your Own Holiday Lights: Safety Tips and Statistics
We feel a great sense of accomplishment when we get the last strand of holiday lights hung up and ready to turn on. But we almost fell off the ladder more than once and that electric shock wasn't that bad, right? We won't admit it, but hanging up the lights on our own can be scary and nerve-wracking if we don't have any help to do it. If this hits a little too close to home, here is what you need to know about the hidden dangers of hanging your own holiday lights. We will also throw in some safety precautions and tips if you do it yourself.
Let's Talk Electrical
Let's jump into all things electrical when you hang your own holiday lights. First, we'll talk about your energy costs. You may not be the best at figuring out what cords you need, how many circuits would be best and how many is too many plugs before you blow something. Not only could you cut power to your whole house by accident, but you could wind up sending your electric bill through the light-covered roof.
The other side is electrocuting yourself. If you moved into a new house and don't know the tricks and limits, that could spell disaster. If you bought more lights and are guessing how to get them all hooked up, you could accidentally light yourself up.
You Could Start a Fire
Holding hands with electrical issues is possibly starting a fire. Overloading circuits could also lead to a fire, but so could missing or burned-out bulbs, frayed wires or bad sockets. We want the holidays to be bright, but not like that. You could not realize you hung lights over flammable objects like plants, other decorations or lampshades.
Injuries Are Always a Possibility
Ladders are not always our friends. We slip, we think we are at the last step and we swore we opened the ladder all the way. People also tend to lean the ladder against something so it's not exactly supported, which could cause a Christmas Vacation-style slide down the whole thing.
There is also may stapling your sleeve to a shingle, hitting your hand with a tool or dropping a decoration on your foot if you are the only one lugging things around.
You Could Fall
Not only could you fall off your ladder, but you could also slip off your roof, completely bust your butt or back by falling on ice or trip and fall over a decoration or tool you forgot you put down. It doesn't matter what age you are, falling off a roof or slipping and hitting your head on ice is not a good thing.
You Could Get Sloppy When You Take Everything Down
We are tired, we are over it and we do not want to take the decorations down. We pull at lights that shouldn't be pulled and throw things in the tubs as quickly as possible. This is not the way to do it, and the sloppiness could cause another injury after you just recovered from the injury putting everything up.
Injury Statistics
According to UCLA Health, falls send people to the hospital the most, with an average of 160 holiday-related injuries happening each day, with half of those injuries being falls.
For the holiday season of 2021-2022, around 14,800 people were sent to the emergency room for injuries related to decorating for the holidays. The injuries peak during those two consecutive weekends after Thanksgiving when everyone is switching the turkey out for the Christmas tree. There are other expected spikes about 40 days to 60 days after Thanksgiving, when everyone is taking their decorations down.
Surprisingly, toddlers and young children get injured around 10% of the time (most of them younger than four years old). Keep the kids away from helping if they are young and make sure any decorations around the kids are secured.
How to Stay Safe
- If you insist on hanging the lights yourself, there are ways to survive the New Year.
- Inspect each strand and every bulb
- Watch where you put your extension cords
- Limit the number of strands per extension cord, no more than three strands per cord
- Use the proper size ladder
- Use the ladder properly
- Check for any hazards where the lights are going and where you will walk
- Be sure to have GFCI protection and outlets
- Turn everything off when you aren't home
The ways to stay safe aren't crazy, hard to follow directions-just using common sense and reading directions.
You Could Always Call the MosquitoNix Elves
The main thing to take away is that hanging your holiday decorations could be dangerous, so if you don't have anyone to help you or can't do it all on your own, there are pest and mosquito control companies that also take care of your holiday lights and decor needs. From the setup to the storage to the teardown, a professional and insured company doing the work for you could be the bow on the present for you this holiday season. You should feel like Clark Griswold when the lights work, not when he is kicking the reindeer across the yard.
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