Holiday Safety
This season of celebrating can be a wonderful time of the year, but it can also be a time for accidents.
This season of celebrating can be a wonderful time of the year, but it can also be a time for accidents.
TL;DR: Electrical hazards, unattended candles, overheated extension cords, and fireplace risks cause most holiday injuries and fires. Keep trees watered, use GFCI outlets, monitor electronics, and maintain walkways to protect your team and guests during peak injury season.
What’s at Risk: The holiday period sees a spike in workplace injuries tied to decoration setup, party hosting, and seasonal distraction. Unchecked electrical hazards, fire risks from decorations and fireplace use, food safety lapses, and improperly secured walkways create liability exposure that compounds during high-traffic holiday events.
Keep Real Trees Watered: The combination of shorts in electrical lights and a tinder-dry tree can be deadly. Keep your tree well-watered. Water levels should never get below the base of the tree. Unplug lights before watering.
Keep an Eye on Candles: Make sure you don’t leave your candles unattended, or burn them close to other decorations. Consider using the battery-powered ones.
Sockets and Outlets: Water and debris can get into outdoor sockets, so make sure outdoor lights are plugged into a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet to reduce the risk of shorts and shocks. Hire a licensed electrician if you need to install GFCI outlets. Make sure you only use one plug per outlet and do not exceed the wattage rating for the outlet.
Extension Cords: Keep an eye on extension cords, as they can occasionally overheat. Just touch-test the cord. If it’s hot, unplug it. When running extension cords along the ground, make sure to elevate plugs and connectors with a brick to keep snow, water and debris out of the connections.
Turn Christmas Lights Off: Don’t leave Christmas lights running when you go to bed at night or when you leave the house.
Walkways: Keep on top of removing wrapping paper, toys, boxes and other debris from walkways.
Scissors and Knives: Some gifts that come in plastic clam shells, Aunt Tami’s overzealous tape jobs, and others with plastic fasteners may require a knife or a pair of scissors. Make sure to use knife safety principles and don’t let children use them.
Lights on for Guests: If you have overnight guests, keep a light on in hallways to allow them to navigate to the bathroom without tripping.
Fireplaces: Keep trees, wreaths, greeting cards, and the wrapping paper away from and out of the fireplace as they can quickly ignite. Use a screen to contain any flying sparks. Make sure your chimney has been swept if you haven’t used it in a while.
Batteries: Take all batteries out of decorations before storing them. Have some spare batteries available for electronics. Don’t leave batteries sitting on the mantle, by the fireplace or near stoves or open flames. The heat can spark them or make them explode.
Food: Don’t leave food out on buffets for hours on end, no one wants food poisoning as a party favor. Cover and refrigerate anything that could spoil within an hour. Keep kids and pets out of the kitchen when cooking (hot stoves, knives, trip hazard potential). Make sure you take allergies and dietary restrictions into account.
Alcohol: Try to keep track of what you take in and make sure you count any puddings or foods that contain alcohol into your calculations. If you have multiple events to attend, try to give your liver a day’s break between them.
Whether you’re hosting a company holiday party, decorating a warehouse with seasonal displays, or managing facility access during high guest traffic, holiday safety requires a structured approach. Most injuries happen when attention shifts from routine hazard management to party logistics. The gap between your normal facility practices and holiday mode is where accidents live. iSi Environmental helps manufacturers, distribution centers, and industrial facilities run safe holiday operations by auditing electrical setups, validating food safety controls, and verifying walkway security before the busiest season. Same-day assessments, written safety checklists for staff, and liability reduction tools keep your celebration safe and your facility compliant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the primary fire hazard with real Christmas trees?
Real Christmas trees become fire hazards when they dry out and are exposed to electrical hazards. A combination of dry tree material and short circuits in electrical light strings can quickly cause fires. Keeping trees well-watered with water levels never below the base of the tree significantly reduces fire risk. Unplug lights before watering trees to prevent electrical shock.
Q: What precautions should be taken for outdoor electrical decorations?
Outdoor holiday lights should be plugged into Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) outlets to reduce the risk of electrical shorts and shocks from water and debris exposure. Use only one plug per outlet and verify wattage ratings are not exceeded. Extension cords should be elevated on bricks when running along the ground to prevent water and snow damage to connections.
Q: What temperature can extension cords reach before becoming a fire hazard?
Extension cords can overheat and create fire hazards. Users should regularly touch-test extension cords, and if cords feel hot, they must be unplugged immediately. Heavy-duty extension cords should be used for high-wattage decorations, and cords should never be pinched, crushed, or run across high-traffic areas where damage could occur.
Q: What food safety precautions should be followed for holiday gatherings?
Food left on buffets should not exceed one hour at room temperature before being covered and refrigerated to prevent foodborne illness. Keep children and pets out of kitchens during food preparation due to hot stoves, knives, and trip hazards. Consider attendee allergies and dietary restrictions when planning menus, and track alcoholic consumption across multiple holiday events.
Holiday safety assessments start at $750 for a single-shift walkthrough covering electrical hazard audit, fire safety validation, and walkway/accessibility review. Full facility audits with written safety briefings and staff training run $1,500–$3,200 depending on square footage and complexity.
Download Article to Share With Your Team
Need help with environmental, safety, and industrial hygiene compliance before the holiday rush? Contact iSi Environmental for a same-day quote, or explore our environmental, safety, and industrial hygiene services to see how we can help your facility.
We Plug In. You Level Up.