Christmas Decor Stresses Safety for Holidays

Christmas Decor
Published: October 28th, 2011

Local Professional Holiday and Event Decorating Company Provides Useful Tips

October 28, 2011 // Franchising.com // LEVITT, TX – According to the Home Safety Council four out of five U.S. households plan to use ladders around their homes to prepare for the holiday season. Annually, during the two months surrounding the holiday season, more than 14,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms due to injuries related to holiday decorating.

Christmas Decor provides professional holiday and event decorating, eliminating unnecessary accidents for local residents. Its designers are trained to execute lighting displays on high roofs, ladders, and in tricky situations. Christmas Decor installation crews are professionally trained and use the utmost of care when decorating client’s home, without damaging moldings, roofing, or architectural elements.

“Homeowners are simply not following proper safety practices,” said Blake Smith, president of Christmas Décor. “These unsafe practices can lead to major injury and even death, turning the holidays from a time of celebration into a time of tragedy.”

Christmas Décor always recommends using a professional for holiday decorating because of injuries due to falling and electrocution but provides the following tips to improve safe practices for residents insistent on doing it themselves:

• Use proper climbing equipment – 82 percent of consumers reported climbing on chairs, counters, shelves and other pieces of furniture when decorating for the holidays according to the Home Safety Council. Invest in a sturdy and reliable ladder that can adapt to different heights according to your needs.
• Practice safe techniques – They also advise to secure ladders on even ground, don’t stand on the top 2 steps of a ladder, and don’t reach further than you should when decorating around windows.
• Aluminum and electricity don’t mix – As easy as it may be, do not string lights while they are plugged in. If your ladder is aluminum it will conduct electricity and an error can cause electrocution.
• Save the festivities for night – Alcohol consumption when climbing ladders can lead to injury and death. Also, decorate when the sun is up. Decorating at night is dangerous.
• Indoor or Outdoor? – The Home Safety Councils stresses that you check the color-coded UL (Underwriters Laboratories) mark on the product’s package if you are unsure whether the light strings are for indoor or outdoor use. A green holographic UL mark indicates indoor use only while a red one indicates that the product is safe for both indoor and outdoor use.
• Stay grounded - Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) prevent electric shock. Plug outdoor electric lights and decorations into circuits protected by them the Electrical Safety Foundation International advises. Portable GFCIs provide flexibility in using receptacles that are not GFCI-protected, and are often used outdoors.

“Hopefully homeowners will leave it to the pros,” added Smith. “If not, we recommend these tips to help keep area residents safe and healthy for the holiday season.”

About Christmas Decor

Since its inception in 1986, Christmas Decor has risen to become the premier holiday lighting and decorating company in North America. The Texas-based company was founded by Blake Smith as an off-season supplement to his landscape business and as a method to provide year-round work for employees. Christmas Decor quickly emerged as a viable business opportunity and today, operates in more than 350 markets in 48 states and Canada. Plans are underway to open locations in more than 100 new markets through franchise expansion in select communities around the country. Christmas Decor is highly revered in its field and has received consistent recognition for its efforts; some highlights include having been named one of a Top Ten Home Improvement Franchises for 2008 by Entrepreneur Magazine and AOL Small Business. Christmas Decor’s parent company, The Decor Group, also offers the Nite Time Decor franchise opportunity, a growing 30-unit concept specializing in architectural and landscape lighting services. For more information, visit www.christmasdecor.net.