Ho, Ho, Ow! Falling Stocking Holders and Other Holiday Decoration Mishaps Cause Injuries

More and more people are getting decked while they are decking the halls for the holidays, safety officials say.

Thousands of Americans suffer serious injuries each year in falls from ladders while hanging holiday lights or decorating the Christmas tree. A newer type of accident also being seen in emergency rooms across the United States in recent years are bumps, bruises, and more serious injuries caused by falling stocking hangers, those heavy objects that are used to hang stockings by the chimney with care without driving nails into the mantle.

Last holiday season, from Oct. 31 to Jan. 31, there were 469 reports of holiday decorating-related injuries and investigations recorded by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, according to an MSNBC.com report. When averaged out for the entire year, about 13,000 Americans are treated in the emergency room each year for injuries caused by holiday decorations, according to agency estimates.

Stocking Hangers Linked to Children’s Injuries

At least 20 young children were hurt by stocking hangers last year, the reports showed. In most of the cases, young children and toddlers pulled on the stockings, causing the heavy metal, ceramic, or wooden hangers to topple down onto their heads.

A two-year-old Los Angeles boy who pulled a heavy reindeer-shaped stocking holder onto his head on Dec. 10, causing a deep puncture wound between his eyes. A four-year-old girl’s toe was crushed when a stocking holder fell on it on Dec. 5, MSNBC.com reports.

Other types of common holiday decorating mishaps involve accidental shots from staple guns, plastic Christmas trees and oil-filled Hanukkah menorahs that catch a couch on fire and cause burns or smoke inhalation injuries, the report said.

A dose of precaution in using stocking hangars and being sure to supervise young children around hanging stockings and other holiday decorations can help prevent many of these accidents, safety officials said.

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