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Getting the home ready for the year ahead after the festive celebrations can leave people exposed to some surprising and even deadly dangers
Horror electric shocks from festive lights, tumbling trees and snowy shopping disasters are just some of the terrible and sometimes fatal mishaps to strike in the wake of New Year and Christmas celebrations.
Experts say this can be one of the most dangerous times of the yeat as precarious DIY decorating tasks, roaring fires and wintry weather combine to create the perfect environment for accidents to occur. With alcohol more involved in many people’s lives than usual, the risk of slips and falls resulting in an unwanted trip to A&E is also never far away. Here, we round up some of the most shocking festive season injuries:
Christmas trees falling over
It sounds like something out of a bad Christmas flick – but a toppling Christmas tree can be deadly – so be careful when putting them out for the rubbish. Just last month, a young police officer was killed in South America after a huge tree fell over during a festive light switch on. Kevin Andres Navas, 19, died when the 98ft tree came down in Cundinamarca, Colombia, crushing him underneath. A similar tragedy played out at a Christmas market in Oudenaarde, Belgium, on December 22 last year, when a collapsing 20-metre (66ft) high tree fatally crushed a 63-year old woman and left two other people injured.
Shocking decorations
Faulty festive lights – including those bought from online retailers without proper safety certification – can give you a nasty electric shock, or even kill you. In the UK, around 350 people are injured each year by Christmas tree decorations, either during falls, by electric shocks and burns, or by swallowing the bulbs, as they can look like sweets to young children.
If you still haven’t taken down your tree, make sure you always unplug the lights first before you get out the watering can. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, 26 people died as a result of watering their Christmas tree with the lights still on between 1997 and 2010.
Home fires
People are 50% more likely to die in a house fire at this time of year than at any other. Dried-out natural trees set ablaze by overheating lights is one cause of festive fires, and this year firefighters across the UK have once again urged people to make sure trees are properly watered (with the lights unplugged) and that lights conform to the British safety standard.
Overloaded sockets, unattended cooking and candles catching on decorations are also common fire risks. West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Assistant District Commander Dan Butterfield warned residents: “Candles can add a warm and festive touch to homes during the festive season, but they also pose a fire risk if not used safely. Never leave burning candles unattended. Make sure they are on a solid, heat- resistance surface, out of the reach of pets and children and away from flammable objects. Also do not burn several candles close together as this might cause the flame to flare.”
Shopping sprees and booze-ups that end up A&E
Considering how many pints are sunk at work parties and friendly gatherings around this time of year, it’s perhaps not surprising that A&E admissions typically surge. But even ‘dashing through the snow’ on your way to pick up gifts or January sales bargains can land you with potentially serious injuries.
Clare Jenkins, a chartered Legal Executive with over 30 years of experience in personal injury law, told the Mirror: “These incidents happen mainly on the street, in shops or whilst people are at work, often causing injuries that range from soft tissue (and slight embarrassment) to severe breaks and fractures.
“One case I saw recently came about because the entrance mat of a store was not being monitored or changed when it was soaked after particularly heavy snow. People were then walking wet footsteps into the store, making the floor very slippery with no regular mopping.”
Falling out of the loft
In 2022, a Shrewsbury grandmother was rushed to Royal Stoke University Hospital in an ambulance after falling from her loft while reaching for her Christmas decorations and badly breaking her ankle. Recalling her horror fall, Jackie Jones, 59, told Channel 5’s ‘999: Critical Condition’ show: “I had got home from work and decided to get my Christmas moose and reindeers down from the loft for my grandchildren. The box got stuck as I was pulling it out of the hatch and before I knew it the ladders moved from under me and I fell to the ground.”
Jackie was put under sedation once she arrived at Royal Stoke Hospital, where medics manipulated her ankle back in its socket before casting her leg. The following morning Jackie was sent to surgery to align her bones back together – and fortunately managed to be discharged just in time for Christmas.
She said: “The pain was horrendous, I don’t remember a lot of it but I know I had a really bad break which needed emergency surgery. Luckily I was discharged on Christmas eve which was just amazing.”
