Commit a Minute – Let’s Win!
Thursday, December 9th, 2010 by Krissy 7 Comments »
Frantic shopping! Wrapping gifts! Hanging lights! Cooking! Planning parties! As a mom, you know life can get extremely busy while preparing for the holidays. However, sometimes the focus on celebrating can turn fun festivities into injuries and accidents if safety is not a priority for families. Studies show that nearly 230 people will visit the emergency room each day in November and December to be treated for holiday-related injuries.
Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a leading independent safety organization, is calling all parents, specifically moms, to set aside time in their schedule to commit at least one minute to safety each day this holiday season.
Top 10 Tips for Safer Holidays
1. Water your tree: Dry trees pose a substantial fire risk. After bringing your tree home, make a fresh cut at the base of the trunk before putting it in a sturdy stand. Be sure to water it daily. Additionally, know your trees expiration date. After about four weeks, the tree will stop absorbing water, dry out and should be discarded.
2. Check your lights, check them twice: Inspect all of your electric lights and decorations for damage or wear. Cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires and loose connections may pose a fire or shock hazard.
3. Plan your fire escape: Use the holidays as a good time to practice a fire escape plan with your loved ones. Identify at least two exits from every room in the house.
4. Sleep safe, install smoke alarms: UL recommends using both types of smoke alarms in your home. Be sure that at least one smoke alarm is installed on each floor of your home, and always close to sleeping areas.
5. Be flame aware: Always blow out unattended candles and teach your children to stay away from lit candles or fireplaces.
6. Give wrapping paper a second life: Don’t burn used wrapping paper as it may cause intense flash fires. And throwing it out adds waste. Consider recycling or repurposing it instead.
7. Know your lights and cords: Do not connect more than three miniature light strings together. Also, be sure to check the rating on your extension cords and do not plug in more than the recommended wattage.
8. Steer your tree clear: Your tree should be positioned at least three feet away from fireplaces, radiators and other heat sources. It should also not block any doorways or exits.
9. Decorate with a safe eye: Cords should not be run under carpets and lights should not be tacked-up with metal nails or staples. Small decorations can be choking hazards so keep them out of the reach of toddlers.
10. Look for UL: Only use light strings and other electrical decorations that bear the UL Mark near the plug, signifying that safety standards have been met.
For additional ideas and activities on how to “Commit a Minute” this holiday season, visit www.SafetyAtHome.com.
This is for you guys! Here’s what we have to do in order for one of you to win!
The blogger with the most interaction and comments on their post will win an additional $250 Visa gift card that can be used for themselves or as a prize for their readers.
Now of course I am going to give it to one of my readers!
What’s MY Commit a Minute?
We make sure our cords aren’t frayed and out of the way of the dogs and kids!
I reuse wrapping paper! Yes, I am ‘one of those’.
We’ve spoken to our kids and have done a ‘fire test’ on what to do in case of fire and if they hear the fire alarm.
My husband and I make it a ritual to always make sure candles are blown out and if we have any fragrance plugins, we UNPLUG them, before bed and before we leave the house.
When we leave the house, we double check electrical outlets, lights off, ect to make sure our 4-legged fur babies are safe while we’re gone.
I commit more than a minute to safety, and know with the Holidays here that there is more of a risk of fire.
We don’t have a real tree, so we just make sure the cords can’t be seen on the tree and make sure it’s unplugged when we aren’t home or at night when we’re sleeping.
Now tell me, what’s YOUR Commit a Minute???
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I commit to plan out a fire escape route for my family.
I am also one of those and reuse wrapping paper, bows and bags
I reuse gift bags and bows. As for my minute, I water the tree everyday, we also unplug at night and when we leave the house, and I made sure we have extra fire extinguishers and an escape ladder for upstairs.
I always take the time to make sure things are shut off. My son is bad about leaving things on, particularly my floor lamp. Those things get so hot and, because they point up, they can overheat/start fires.
We check our Christmas lights carefully before we hang them. We don’t leave them on while we are sleeping or if away from home.
I am a gift bag and bow reuser also!
I commit to be sure that the tree always has enough water so that it doesn’t dry out and catch on fire and we always make sure all lights are out and have cooled down before going to bed at night.
We commit by checking our smoke alarms regularly for one thing. We have the lights on our artificial tree plugged into an outlet controlled by a switch and yes, we checked them first.
All of our electronics are plugged into good surge protectors