Stay-Safe Secrets for Seven Deck-the-Halls Pitfalls

Margaret Keresteci should have known better. Working for a health organization that gathers statistics on injuries, she was well aware of the many mishaps that occur during the holidays.

Nevertheless, one winter she was so anxious to get her outside Christmas lights up that she hauled out a ladder—in the dark—climbed to the top and then leaned precariously to one side to hang the lights.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground with two broken wrists and a gash to her head. No one was home, so in terrible pain, Keresteci made her way to a nearby house, where she summoned help by banging on the door with her elbow.
It was a dangerous—and embarrassing—incident for the Toronto-based manager of clinical registries at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, a nonprofit that collects and analyzes data relating to health, including injuries. “I know better now,” says Keresteci, who suffered permanent damage to one wrist as a result of her fall.

Her story is a kind of perfect storm of holiday hazards: over-the-top decorating, mind-altering stress, breakneck pace. It’s no wonder there are typically more falls from ladders, more fires and more food-related illnesses just before and during the holiday season than at other times of the year.

The good news is that most of these injuries are preventable. Here, then, is a guide to what you should look out for when greeting the season.