The holiday season should be a time of festiveness and joy. However, the likelihood of sustaining certain injuries tends to increase during the holidays. This phenomenon comes as no surprise when considering the unique risks associated with some of the activities that occur exclusively during this time of year. This blog discusses ways of minimizing the dangers of certain holiday activities so your holiday cheer doesn’t turn into fear.
Thanksgiving Food
One often overlooked risk associated with the Thanksgiving holiday is food poisoning. Although a traditional Thanksgiving meal isn’t complete without a whole roasted turkey, an undercooked turkey carries the risk of foodborne illnesses such as salmonella bacteria, like its fowl brethren: chicken. The salmonella bacteria causes fever, gastrointestinal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. To prevent infection from such foodborne diseases, make sure you cook your turkey to a minimum internal temperature of 165 ° F. If you are a guest at a Thanksgiving feast that someone else prepared, do not eat turkey or chicken meat if it is has a deep pink color. A pink tint to the meat strongly suggests that the turkey was not sufficiently cooked to kill harmful salmonella bacteria.
Black Friday
Black Friday has become somewhat of a modern Thanksgiving tradition. Initially, malls faced a swarm of customers who would rush in to take advantage of the holiday sales promotions. Customers sustained injuries from being literally trampled by a stampede of customers. Today, most retailers are prepared for the characteristic surge in customer attendance and implement more effective controls over customer foot traffic. However, the risk of a slip and fall accident in a customer-packed retail store dramatically increases, especially when customers track water and ice onto the premises. You can avoid a slip and fall injury by watching where you step and wearing weather-appropriate footwear.
Drunk Driving
No holiday season is complete without a holiday party. Whether it is an office that hosts a holiday party for its employees or your close friends who decide to engage in the season’s revelries, you can usually count on alcohol to fuel the festivities. Unfortunately, a significant increase in drunk-driving-related traffic accidents is consistently correlated to the holidays. Extreme winter weather and intoxication represent two very deadly ingredients in a holiday recipe for disaster. If you plan on partaking in any holiday libations, you should also plan on setting up an alternate means of travel to replace driving. If you or a friend are too intoxicated to drive, you can call a taxi or ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft.
Christmas Decorations
Christmas trees and lighting present some of the biggest risks of injury during the holiday season. In particular, you should beware the fire hazards connected with using real Christmas trees. Real pine trees quickly dry-out and shed their needles as they can no longer draw water from the ground. The dried-out branches and needles from a Christmas tree transform into kindling for a house fire when introduced to an ignition source. To minimize the risk of causing a house fire, considering using an artificial Christmas tree this year.
However, if your devotion to Christmas authenticity prevents you from using an artificial Christmas tree, make sure your real tree’s water source is at an adequate level above the base of the trunk. When a pine tree has insufficient water, its treetrunk starts to discharge a resin which seals off the severed end, keeping the tree from absorbing water.
Additionally, hospital emergency rooms experience a surge in fractures, sprains, and other injuries that are characteristic of falling from a significant height. The most common injuries that emergency rooms treat during the holidays consistently involve people falling from a ladder while hanging up Christmas lights. This risk can be avoided by having a professional service handle the task of stringing up Christmas lights for you, or by making sure you have a proper ladder for the job, including someone else to stabilize the ladder while you are on it.
Don’t Let an Injury Ruin Your Holidays
Despite your efforts to mitigate the safety risks of holiday activities, other people may not be so careful. If you are injured due to the carelessness of another person, you should contact a Brooklyn personal injury lawyer for legal advice. At Koenigsberg & Associates Law Offices, we have experience litigating personal injury matters, including various holiday-related injuries. We are passionate about advocating for your right to be compensated for the injuries you wrongfully sustained as a result of someone else’s negligent conduct.
Call us anytime at (718) 690-3132 or contact us online for a free case evaluation today.