When it comes to electrical safety, you could do a lot worse than heeding the words of the very agency responsible for making sure that electronic products meet certain standards. If you still have some holiday decorating to do, then you should consider the advice on hand from Underwriter Laboratories’s Consumer Safety Director in a new report.
The UL symbol denotes that a given item has met the approval of that organization, and you should be wary of any item that does not contain those letters. Various light strands will have this symbol, and it could come in one of two colors: green or red. Green means that it is rated for indoor usage, while red means that the light strand could be used outside or inside.
In addition to simply looking out for these items, every year you should be examining all light strands for damage and not use any product that exhibits significant fraying or wear.
Caution should also extend to any candles you might be using; they need to be kept a fair distance from anything that could conceivably be set alight, and if you leave the room, blow them out at once. The UL representative notes that you can also improve air quality by investing in natural candles or those with wicks that don’t contain lead.