Holiday season is upon us now and it is time to decorate the house. Stringing lights can be hazardous so before you light up your house take a few minutes to go through a quick safety checklist.

• Double check that your lights are designed for outdoor use as not all lights can handle the outside temperatures. Indoor lights have less insulation resulting in a greater likeliness of them cracking when exposed to the cold.
• Check your lights for exposed wires, broken sockets, loose connections or frayed ends.
• Don’t use nails, screws or anything that can pierce the cord to mount the lights
• If you are using an extension cord occasionally check the cord for overheating. If it’s too hot – unplug it.
• Elevate the connection point of the extension cord to keep water and snow out of the connections.
• Tape down any ground level cords to avoid people tripping over them.
• Turn the lights off when you leave the house or go to bed.
• Replace burnt out bulbs as soon as possible. Make sure that the wattage of the new bulbs is the same as the wattage of the old.
• Make sure the lights are well secured to prevent damage from wind.
• Be careful with ladders.
• Do not hang the lights by yourself to avoid injury or have someone to call for help if an accident happens.
• Make sure the lights are kept out of the reach of kids and pets cannot reach the lights.
• Don’t bunch up Christmas lights together as the heat can melt the insulation and expose wires.
• Seal your lights well when putting them back into storage to ensure they’re kept safe from water and rodents’ teeth.
• Utilize lights with fused plugs. They do not spark in the case of a short circuit.