Skills Training Centre's 12 Days of Christmas Safety
It's in the excitement of Christmas that health and safety precautions lax and accidents happen.
Christmas is a very special time of year. During the festive season, we are all busy organising gatherings with friends and family, trying to out do our neighbours outdoor Christmas lights and having homes full of excited family members. However it's in this excitement that health and safety precautions lax and accidents happen. According to the RoSPA more than 80,000 people go to A&E each year for Christmas-related accidents and over 6,000 of these need to be admitted.
Skills Training Centre have put together 12 Days of Christmas health and safety tips. Follow these in order to keep you and your family safe over the holidays.
1. Candles
Keep candles away from Christmas trees, garlands and wreaths. The additional decorations in homes throughout December creates further fire hazards. Fire services have to tend to more than 2,300 fires on Christmas Day.
2. Turn off Christmas Lights
Ensure all interior and exterior Christmas lights and decorations are turned off when you leave the house or room. This will prevent overheating which in turn can cause a fire. According to the RoSPA around 350 people a year are injured by Christmas tree lights.
3. Attic Spaces
Be careful when getting your decorations from storage and attic spaces. The confined spaces of attics can be hazardous due to minimal lighting, low ceiling heights and uneven floorboards and beams.
4. Christmas Light Safety
Check the condition of your Christmas lights before decorating your home from top to bottom. It’s suggested that incandescent bulbs should be replaced every 4-6 years and LED bulbs every 7-10 years to ensure they are of a higher safety standard. There should be no fraying, bare spots or kinks in the wires. More than 1 in 40 (2.7%) people have suffered an electric shock due to badly wired Christmas lights.
5. Cable Safety
Do not overload sockets and extension cables and ensure cables are tidied away out of reach of children and to prevent trips. According to the RoSPA, people are 50% more likely to die in a house fire over Christmas than at any other time of the year.
6. Ladder Safety
Remember to always use an appropriate ladder or stepladder to put up decorations and always have someone on hand to hold the ladder steady. The NHS estimates that up to 350 people every year are injured while putting up fairy lights, and a further 1,000 while festooning the house in decorations, often relying on chairs rather than ladders.
7. Food Safety
Do not leave any food out at room temperature for more than two hours and reheat leftovers to at least 74 degrees to avoid food poisoning. Giving yourself or your guests food poisoning over Christmas would be a nightmare - but it's all too easy to do with a poorly defrosted or undercooked turkey. It’s essential that you check defrosting and cooking times in preparation of the day..
8. Choking Hazards
Keep small decorations and toys away from young children to avoid choking hazards. Particularly small gifts from crackers, these novelties don't strictly need to comply with the rules and regulations governed for other toy makers.
9. Recycling
Ensure you recycle as much waste as possible, this includes cardboard packaging, wrapping paper and Christmas cards (where appropriate).
10. Winter Maintenance
Grit your pathways and driveways to prevent icy slips and falls. Councils in the UK are responsible for about 225,000 miles of road, this doesn't usually include residential areas and side roads. Exercise with caution before you travel in case the road you are travelling on hasn’t been gritted.
11. Food Allergens and Dietary Requirements
Triple check with all guests as to whether they have any dietary requirements prior to starting your Christmas food preparation. It's essential that you prevent cross-contamination in preparation and serving areas.
12. Fire Safety
Although Christmas tree branches and gift wrap are flammable, you should avoid throwing them in the fireplace or on bonfires. Christmas tree branches burn extremely hot, which could turn into a disaster. Additionally, the ink from patterned wrapping paper can sometimes contain metals that can emit toxic fumes when burnt.
How can Skills Training Centre assist you this Christmas?
At Skills Training Centre, we have a vast range of courses that can assist you in all of these areas of safety. We pride ourselves on being able to provide a professional and reactive response to training requests. Flexible enough to manage last minute requirements as well as being capable of assisting with the implementation of organisation wide training plans.
We don’t believe in delivering courses that just tick boxes, we provide training that allows our attendees to learn new skills, improve existing skills and retain industry based knowledge.
The courses we provide are designed to be relevant and cost effective and are delivered to high standards. Our instructors are professional and experienced in their respective fields and are highly skilled at taking into account the needs of individuals with different skills, abilities and experience.
If you wish to gain further insight into our range of training courses and what Skills Training Centre can provide for you, please get in touch.
