Keep Safety in Mind On The Heels of Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2012

Two days removed from Christmas, it’s easy to grow lax in the way one approaches safety.  Yes, all the unique hazards posed by the gift-giving season are curtailed slightly, but they don’t disappear completely.  With decorations still up, gifts littering the household, and your tree growing dryer and dryer by the minute, numerous threats to safety are still presented.  To ensure that you and your family aren’t put at risk in the post-holiday period, officials from the Parkersburg, West Virginia Police Department have offered a few safety tips.

The first thing you should do is protect yourself from potential thievery.  Just as you wouldn’t put a litany of wrapped gifts in front of large bay windows prior to Christmas, you similarly don’t want to make it obvious that a bunch of unwrapped goodies reside inside the home.  This is exactly what you do when you toss a bunch of torn open boxes on the curb to be collected by your trash service.

Instead of doing that, place the boxes themselves within a trash can or bag that conceals the contents.  You can ensure safety even further by not putting product boxes out in the first place.  Think about taking them directly to a recycling center.  By doing these simple things, burglars on the prowl for an easy target won’t feast their eyes on an empty box for a 60 inch flatscreen television and know that they’ve hit the motherlode.

You should also know how to dispose of your Christmas tree properly.  Many areas will set up a lot where you can bring the tree so that it gets recycled.  Otherwise, the sanitation department in your area might be willing to pick the tree up from the curb when you set it out on the correct day.  One thing you should not do, though, is burn the tree, especially if you live in a city or in an area with various combustible materials.

If you really got into the holiday spirit, then perhaps the exterior of your abode is festooned with all manner of holiday lights, smiling snowmen, and jolly old fat men.  Be as careful removing these as you were putting them up.  When a ladder is a necessity, make sure you have someone assisting you while you remove the lights.  Place it on a level surface, and make sure you don’t overextend yourself.  If you have to reach, then get down and move the ladder rather than leaning over too far.

Finally, make sure you take the weather into consideration when removing decorations.  If you live in an area where snow falls, and indeed flurry or blizzard conditions set in, consider waiting a couple days before removing the decorations.  Slippery surfaces and tall heights are a potent injury combination, so make safety paramount at all times by delaying any activities that could be deemed dangerous in such weather.

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