Header

APS offers tips to avoid decorating dangers this holiday season

As you make your holiday list, APS encourages you to put safety at the top. The hustle and bustle of the season often leads to accidents. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 200 decorating-related injuries occur each day during November and December, sending thousands of people to the emergency room. APS offers these safety tips to avoid holiday decorating dangers:

  • When stringing lights outside, use a dry wooden or fiberglass ladder, and be sure to stay away from overhead power lines. Only use your ladder on level ground. Don’t use the top rung and don’t lean away to hang decorations.
  • Avoid stringing any outdoor lighting or electrical cords where water from irrigation or sprinklers may be present.
  • Check for labels showing the lights have been certified for outdoor use. Discard light sets with broken or cracked sockets, frayed wires or loose connections.
  • Use more than one circuit to avoid overloading household wiring. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendation for the number of light strings that can be connected safely.
  • Consider using LED holiday lights, which run much cooler than their traditional counterparts, and are less of a fire risk and use much less energy.
  • Turn off holiday lights before going to bed or leaving the house.
  • If using a live tree, make sure to check and add water often to the tree stand. If the tree is losing a lot of needles or the needles become brittle, do not turn on decorative electrical lights. The heat from the lights could cause a fire.
  • Test smoke alarms monthly and change batteries every year. CPSC recommends having working smoke alarms on every floor of your home and in every bedroom.

For more electrical safety tips, visit aps.com/safety.

APS serves more than 1.3 million homes and businesses in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, and is a leader in delivering affordable, clean and reliable energy in the Southwest. The company is committed to serving customers with 100% clean power by 2050. As owner and operator of Palo Verde Generating Station, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free electricity, and with one of the country’s most substantial renewable energy portfolios, APS’s current energy mix is 50% clean. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW).

cactus with holiday lights at night

Related stories

4/26/2021
APS, Arizona 811 partner to promote national Safe Digging Month
Newsroom
View up to date news, articles and stories related to APS in the community.
PlaceHolder
Copyright © 2024 APS.  All rights reserved.
Current server address is 10.20.64.98