Keep Your Home and Workplace Safe This Holiday Season

It’s the holiday season—a time for decorations and festivities to celebrate the season. While we welcome your displays of holiday spirit, it is important to keep safety in mind. Here are some guidelines to follow to ensure we all celebrate the season safely.

Decorations:

• Mixing and Matching lights can create a fire hazard; keep outside lights outdoors and inside lights indoors.
• Discard any light strings that have cracks, exposed wire or loose connections.
• Do not connect more than three sets of lights to an extension cord.
• Make sure that cords are not running through a walkway, as it creates a tripping hazard.
• Do not close doors or windows on extension cords and do not run them under rugs or carpeting.
• Make sure all indoor decorations are unplugged at the end of the day.
• Use caution if you have any decorations that have an open flame such as candles.
• Make sure decorations do not block doorways, walkways, exit signs or stairwells.

Food Safety:

If you are bringing food to share at a workplace or family gathering, be sure to observe the following safety precautions:

• Keep perishable food refrigerated and do not leave out for more than two hours
• Use serving utensils, even for “finger food”, so that multiple people are not touching it.
• Label your food, especially if it contains peanuts or other ingredients that others may be allergic to.

Most importantly, always use common sense when decorating for the holidays and when preparing food. We want everyone to enjoy the holiday season, but safety should be a top priority! If you would like to read more helpful safety tips especially for your home, Click Here!