Holiday Safety Tips
by: ESD Safety Coordinator Vivi Fissekidou (x5610)
as part of our 24/7 Safety Program, I'd like to remind you of a few strategies that may help you enjoy the holidays without an incident:
Holiday Security Tips
Burglars view the holiday season as a time of opportunity to burglarize your home or vehicle for cash, credit cards and gifts. The following are a few strategies that will help you enjoy the holidays without incident:
While Shopping
- If you have to carry a purse, carry it close to your body and always zipped.
- Park strategically – close to the mall is optimum. Park in well-lit areas and never park right next to a van.
- Avoid shopping when you are exhausted. You are more alert when you are less tired.
- When hurried or in a crowded shop, make sure you get all forms of I.D. and your credit cards returned to you before leaving.
- Check underneath your car as you approach it. This is a common hiding place of criminals in mall parking lots, as they attempt to take you or your property by surprise.
At Home
- Be extra cautious about locking door and windows when you leave your house or apartment, even for a few minutes.
- Keep gifts hidden from view through outside windows.
- After opening gifts, break down cardboard boxes of expensive electronics and fancy stores. Put them in plastic bags to hide the fact you have new valuable items in your home.
- Don’t advertise…burglars look for occupancy cues like piled up newspapers, mail or advertising flyers hanging on the door knob.
- Use an inexpensive light timer when your away and ask a neighbor to pick up your newspapers and mail.
- Don’t hide spare keys under rocks, in flowerpots, or above door ledges. Instead give the spare key to a trusted neighbor.
- Burglars prefer to enter through unlocked doors or windows. A holiday problem can occur when exterior lights or extension cords are run inside through a window and prevent it from being secured.
- Don’t leave descriptive telephone answering machine messages like “You’ve reached the Wilson’s….we’re away skiing for the Christmas holidays…please leave a message” Bad guys love to hear that they have plenty of time to break in and completely ransack your home.
Home Fire and Electrical Safety
- Home fires and electrocutions nearly doubles during December.
- Nearly 130,000 home fires in December
- 400 deaths from home fires, 1600 injuries
- Christmas trees alone account for 2,000 fires and cause $41 million in damage.
- During November and December of each year, about 10,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms as a result of falls, cuts, shocks and burns related to holiday decorating.
These files contain fire and electrical safety tips for the holiday seasons:
