• About 250 people are injured every day in holiday decorating accidents and mishaps.
• More than 1 in every 3 emergency room visits related to holiday decorating accidents involves a falling injury.
• In the worst cases, these falls can result in serious bone fractures and/or traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).
• Other common injuries for which people seek emergency care (as a result of holiday decorating accidents) include lacerations and back strains.

How to Avoid a Falling Accident While Decorating for the Holidays

To avoid hurting yourself as you decorate for the holidays, here are some tips from the CPSC:

1. Know your physical limitations before getting started – Do you have back problems, balancing issues or other physical limitations that could increase your risk of a falling accident? Or are you taking medications that could cause vision or balancing issues? If so, you may want to keep your decorating limited to the regions you can reach from the floor/standing position and get help for putting up decorations in higher places (like on roofs, the tops of tall trees, etc.).
2. For outside decorating, check the weather first – If you have big plans to hang up lights and other festive decorations outside, make sure you check the weather conditions before getting started. This can help you avoid icy, wet and slick conditions that could increase your risk of a slip and fall off of the roof.
3. Familiarize yourself with ladder safety practices – If you will be climbing up a ladder to put up any of your holiday decorations, make sure that, first, you are using a safe/stable ladder and that, second, you are prepared to practice proper ladder safety. This includes (but is not limited to) keeping three points of contact with the ladder at all times and never scaling a ladder that is not resting flatly on the ground.
4. Get some help – If you want to take the lead in decorating for Christmas, try to get at least one other person to help you, as an extra pair of hands and eyes can go a long way to staying safe. Alternatively, if you can afford it, consider leaving more elaborate (or risky) decorating to professionals.

Contact the Columbia SC Injury Attorneys at Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A. Attorneys at Law

If you have been injured on a dangerous property, by defective equipment or by any form of negligence, contact the Columbia SC injury attorneys at Chappell Smith & Arden, P.A. for clear answers about your rights and options for proceeding, as well as effective legal advocacy moving forward.

Call our firm at 866-881-8623 or email us via the contact form on this page to set up a free, no obligations initial consult with one of our lawyers. During this meeting, you can find out more about your rights, as well as how we can help you.