Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

It's that time of year

I have to write my annual holiday safety article for the employee newsletter. I am sure that no one but the newsletter editor reads it...all my coworkers know that I'm a humorless hysterical safety fanatic. After all, I keep bugging them about not plugging their 20-year-old open-element space heaters into the overloaded power strip next to big stacks of paper.

So it's an exercise in futility. Here goes:

Holiday Safety Tips

The holiday time is a conflagration waiting to happen. The deadly blaze can be started by an errant candle, an overloaded extension cord full of twinkling Christmas lights, or a spark from the crackling fire escaping the fireplace into the drying out tree. Make sure you have fresh batteries in the smoke detector to keep an inferno from killing your family.

What is more delightful than seeing a child's face light up as he or she unwraps the prized toy? It's all too easy, however, to give the happy tot the gift of death. The Consumer Product Safety Commission lists hundreds of toys that have been recalled because they pose risk of choking, electrical shock, laceration, or other injury. Giving clothes instead of toys won't keep them safe, either: CPSC has a section of recalls for them, too.

It's fun to lay out a holiday spread displaying all you culinary talents, but food prepared improperly or left out of the refrigerator too long can become a buffet of bacteria waiting to inflict nausea, vomiting, cramps, and dehydration on your guests. Such food poisoning can even be fatal in Grandma; the elderly and young children are at greatest risk.

Also remember that holiday cheer can turn bloody when your drunken guests stumble back to their cars to hit the road. Over half of the people killed on the roads on Christmas and New Year’s Day are victims of an alcohol-related crash. Have nonalcoholic drinks available at parties and make sure your drinking friends have designated drivers so that you aren’t ringing in the new year with a funeral bell.

Sigh.

Posted by Nic at November 19, 2003 08:17 AM | TrackBack