Beware curse of Christmas, safety bosses warn
This is according to the top 10 tips on a seasonal list compiled by the National Irish Safety Organisation (NISO).
NISO health and safety executive Mary Darlington said the same injuries occur every single year and its research suggests most are avoidable.
“According to British statistics, the single biggest injury at this time of year is caused by people putting decorations on the tree and having one of the branches go into their eye.
“The other obvious ones are fires from Christmas lights or candles falling over, or people who have not lit a fire all year lighting one and it causing a chimney fire.”
Besides the painful injuries, NISO is also concerned about the fallout from other stressful events at this time of year.
It particularly urges people to make sure they do not give themselves any unnecessary grief during work parties.
“Whatever you are tempted to do at an office party, think before you do. What might be appealing at 2am might be regrettable at 8am,” it said.
It also recognised the unique stress brought on by family gatherings.
“Try to manage the family visit with patience and a degree of understanding. Harsh words spoken are difficult to retract. If the situation becomes strained, take the opportunity to go for a walk, read in a room and just make space between you and the relative causing you grief.”
NISO’s Malcolm Byrne said physical injuries were only a part of a troubled picture that can be brought about and its list attempted to address various angles.
“I know different groups will give advice about one type of accident or another so this year we decided to pull them all together into one list,” he said.
“Hospitals and the emergency services all say this is the busiest time of year.”
NISO is funded by agencies including the Health and Safety Authority, the Irish Business Employers’ Confederation and the Irish Insurance Federation.
Ordinarily it provides training and safety advice within industry, however its members have begun to find seasonal accidents affecting businesses in January. “Of course, there can be terrible tragedies at this time of year, but even smaller accidents can mean people not coming back to work as normal in January because of something that happened to themselves or a family member,” Ms Darlington said.
