Lighting Safety Tips for the Holidays

At General Foam Plastics, we want you and your family to have a happy and safe holiday season. Since many of us decorate with light sets during the holidays, the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently published some safety tips and suggestions for using electrical lights. We highly recommend that you review them and visit Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) and www.cpsc.gov for more detailed information.

To ensure that your holiday season is safe from electrical hazards, please follow these safety tips:

1. Before decorating, read and follow the manufacturers' instructions for installation and maintenance of all decorative electrical products.

2. Use lights and other electrical decorations certified by a recognized independent testing laboratory, such as UL, ETL or CSA. This will be displayed on the packaging.

3. When choosing outdoor lights, please use lights and other electrical decorations certified for outdoor use. The packaging will note whether the lights can be used indoors, outdoors, or both. Prevent shock by plugging outdoor decorations into circuits protected by ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs).

4. Carefully inspect each decoration before plugging into an outlet. Cracked, frayed, loose or bare wires, and loose connections may cause a serious electrical shock or start a fire. Replace damaged items.

5. Avoid plugging in too many lights and other decorations into a single outlet. Overloaded outlets can overheat and cause a fire. If using an extension cord, please use them properly.

6. Turn off all holiday lights when you go to bed or leave the house.

We want to encourage everyone to enjoy the holidays and be safe. Please visit
Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) and www.cpsc.gov for more electrical safety advice. You can also call the CPSC Hotline at (800) 638-2772.