UL | Operation Decoration Holiday Safety Checklist

Decorating your home can brighten the holiday season, but misusing or using damaged decorations and other electrical products might lead to injuries or even fires.

The safety experts at Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) encourage you to refer to this handy checklist when decorating your home this holiday season.

Does your live tree have fresh, green needles? Dry trees increase your risk of fire. Remember to keep your tree watered at all times.
Is your tree at least three feet from fireplaces, radiators, space heaters, heating vents and other sources of heat? Is it blocking an exit?
Do you use light strings that bear the UL Mark? The familiar UL Mark on a product means that UL engineers have tested samples of the product for risk of fire, electric shock and other hazards. Use light strings with UL's green holographic label indoors; use light strings with UL's red holographic label either indoors or outdoors.
Before plugging in any electrical decoration, do you carefully inspect it? Cracked sockets, frayed, loose or bare wires, and loose connections may cause serious electric shock or start a fire. Replace damaged items with new decorations.
Do you keep light strings and other electrical decorations away from children's reach? Electrical decorations aren't toys and could produce a deadly electric shock or cause a fire if misused. Make sure you keep light strings away from curious pets as well.
Do you turn off all electrical light strings and decorations before leaving home or going to bed? Never leave light strings and other electrical decorations operating unattended.

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, congratulations! - you're on your way to a safe holiday season. If you answered "no" to any of these questions, you owe it to yourself and your family to correct the hazards in your home.

UL is an independent, not-for-profit product testing and certification organization that has evaluated products, materials and systems for more than a century. More than 18 billion UL Marks appear on new products each year.

The National Fire Protection Association has been a worldwide leader in providing fire, electrical, and life safety to the public since 1896. The mission of the international nonprofit organization is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by developing and advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, training and education.