Most people like the holidays. They might not look forward eagerly to something like President’s Day, but if they know it’s Christmas or the Fourth of July in a few days, they may like the idea that they can have some downtime and relax with the family. They may lick their lips when thinking about hot dogs off the grill or Christmas cookies.
While the holidays can often bring joy and mirth, they can also sometimes bring accidents and injuries. If that happens, then you might find yourself looking at legal options after a holiday-related accident. You may feel like you have to sue someone if their negligence brought about a holiday-related disaster that injured you or a family member.
Let’s talk about a few holiday-related accidents to watch out for and how you can usually avoid them.
Falling Off the Roof
Let’s start by talking about injuries you might sustain while hanging up holiday decorations. Maybe you celebrate Christmas or Hannukah, and you like hanging up lights on the outside of your house. You may also have decorations you traditionally hang up inside your home.
It’s possible that you can injure yourself hanging up holiday decorations inside the house, but outside, there’s often considerably more danger. That’s because you’re usually higher off the ground.
If you’re off balance while trying to hang some Christmas lights, then you can fall off the roof. You might break one of your limbs. Dying from falling off a ladder happens sometimes as well if you land on your head or neck.
To prevent this type of thing, have someone hold the ladder while you’re standing at the top. You should also make sure that you put the ladder on solid ground. If it’s not standing securely, and it’s tipped or at any angle, that makes a fall and injuries more likely.
Injuring Yourself with Some Fireworks
You might also get some fireworks for the Fourth of July. Many people celebrate Independence Day by getting the largest and most impressive-looking fireworks they can find and blowing them up in their driveways or in the middle of the street. It’s potentially fun if you like that sort of thing, but there’s obviously a danger element involved as well.
If you’re going to set off some fireworks, you should make sure that each one you light has a long wick so you can get safely out of the way before it explodes. You might also think about purchasing fireworks that don’t actually blow up.
You can get sparklers and little cylinders that produce snakes made of ash. They are not as exciting, but they also probably will not cause as much damage as something that explodes.
Fires That Start in the Home
If you light candles inside your house to celebrate a holiday, they can easily start a fire if you’re not careful. Hannukah requires that you light the candles and say the blessing each night for eight nights. You and the family can sit and watch the candles burn, and it’s comforting.
If you have the menorah close to some curtains, though, one of the candles can set them ablaze. If that happens, you must act quickly to extinguish the flames before the whole house goes up.
It’s the same with candles that you light for any other holiday. If you’re going to have open flames in the house, keep an eye on them the whole time they’re burning.
You should never go into another room or upstairs while you still have burning candles going. If they tip over or a spark flies onto something flammable, you might have a serious house fire within moments.
Alcohol-Related Car Wrecks
You might have holiday gatherings and invite lots of people. Maybe your friends and neighbors love your parties. You might serve good food and sit around watching sports or old movies on TV while enjoying eggnog.
These parties often feature alcohol, and there’s nothing wrong with that, provided everyone doesn’t go overboard. If someone overindulges, then you should at least make sure that they don’t drive.
Many people drive drunk around the holidays. They know they shouldn’t, but some individuals might feel they’re not over the legal limit, or that they can get home safely because they live just a few streets over.
That kind of thinking can easily cause a crash. Someone leaving a bar or party around the holidays should know if they’re over the legal limit. If they think they’re close to it, then they should have a sober buddy drive them home, or else that should call an Uber.
Injuries While Retrieving Holiday Decorations
You might also have holiday decorations that you keep somewhere in the house. If you live somewhere for a long time, and you feel some enthusiasm around the holidays, you might accumulate more decorations with each passing year.
That’s fine, provided you have the money and the space for them. Maybe you’re one of those people who likes to purchase inflatable ghosts and goblins from Home Depot for Halloween. Perhaps a gigantic inflatable Santa has a place of honor on your lawn every Christmas.
No matter what decorations you have, be careful that you don’t hurt yourself while retrieving them. Maybe you have a bunch of them in boxes in your attic. Perhaps they’re down in the basement.
If you go up into the attic or down into the basement to get them, you shouldn’t try to lift heavy boxes if your back can’t handle them. You can easily suffer an injury that way. Instead, lift some of them out and make several trips. It takes longer, but you probably won’t hurt yourself that way.
You should also try not to hit your head in the attic or basement if you’re on the taller side and you’re dealing with a low ceiling. Makes sure to bend over low enough so you don’t smack your head on a low beam.
Jessica has a flair for writing engaging blogs and articles. She enjoys reading and learning new things which enables her to write different topics and fields with ease. She also strives to break down complex concepts and make them easy for anybody to comprehend.
