No matter where you go or what you do for Memorial Day, you absolutely must make sure that you’re ensuring safety at every turn. Whether you’re traveling or inviting guests into your home for a get-together, you could certainly benefit from some of the safety tips included in a new report.
Let’s start with the precautions to take if you’re taking a road trip over the long weekend. Although many people will be imbibing cocktails at barbeques and other Memorial Day parties, you absolutely should not drink if you’re going to be driving. You might say you’re going to just have a couple beers, but as the party goes on, it’s easy to lose track of your alcohol consumption.
If you do insist on drinking at a party, you must have a designated driver on hand. Otherwise, you imperil yourself and your fellow travelers, and with police presence ratcheted up this weekend, you could find yourself on the wrong side of the law.
The other place alcohol has no place? On a boat. Many people will take to California’s beautiful oceans and lakes this weekend for a little sun, but if you drink alcohol out on the water, your chances of drowning increase dramatically. You also shouldn’t be controlling the boat in the first place if you’re inexperienced in that regard. You ought to have a group of people with you anytime you head out on the water, whether in a boat or just to take a dip, and it’s imperative to make sure you put on a life jacket every time you get on a boat.
When you are traveling to your destination, eliminate distractions, and always have your seatbelt in place. No matter where you travel, you should have some idea where to go to seek emergency care if someone gets hurt badly. You don’t want to waste precious time looking up directions.
But maybe you’re hosting a party. If that’s the case, you still can’t let safety lapse. With guests entering your home, you take on a host of responsibilities that shouldn’t get short shrift. For one thing, know how to handle a grill if that’s your cooking weapon of choice. Keep it far from an area where a fire hazard becomes a possibility, and make sure you know the proper way to prepare food.
When you do prepare food, you ought to know how to eliminate the threat of foodborne illness. The last thing you want is to be held liable for a group of guests that become incredibly sick. Meat should immediately be slapped onto the grill rather than being left outside in the sun, and you should cook the meat completely. A guest might want a piece of meat as rare as possible, but you ought to insist that they let you heat it a bit longer.