Put your safety first at Christmas
People love to bring festive cheer to their homes at Christmas, to ensure that everyone at our housing schemes remain safe please put safety first.
Did you know that in one year alone in the UK:
- Candles sparked around 1,000 house fires, resulting in 9 deaths and 388 casualties.
- Fairy lights caused 20 fires, while trees, decorations and cards caused 47 fires with 20 casualties.
- 1,000 people had to go to A&E after Christmas tree accidents and 350 because of Christmas lights.
Christmas is a time when your home is likely to be full of excitement and distractions - this is when accidents can easily happen. Please plan, supervise children and take care to prevent the risk of potential accidents. Please plan, supervise children and take care to prevent the risk of potential accidents.
In your home, you can put up any Christmas decorations you wish, however in communal or shared areas for your own safety you must meet our safety guidance:
- Ensure that any communal decorations are non-flammable and only put them in communal lounges.
- Decorations must not be put anywhere else such as in corridors. You must not have any tinsel, electrical decorations, paper chains or hanging ceiling decorations here as they pose a high fire risk.
- Wreaths on front doors must be non-flammable.
- Be careful where you place decorations in communal lounges to make sure that you don’t block any movement or escape routes should the need arise. If there was a fire, we need to ensure that all residents and visitors could either evacuate the block, or be reached by the fire service - quickly, safely and without the risk of any obstacles blocking your and their way.
- Do not place any decorations around electrical and heating appliances due to the risk of fire.
- Any tree lights or other electrical decorations must be PAT safety tested and turned off at night. Try to use LED battery powered types for safety.
- Report any concerns immediately.
We hope you have a great time whatever you have planned and most of all stay safe!