At home or at work, keep these things in mind when decorating for the holidays!
- Before decorating, read and follow the manufacturers’ instructions concerning installation and maintenance of all decorative electrical products.
- Use lights and other electrical decorations certified by a recognized independent testing laboratory such as UL, CSA or ETL.
- Outdoors, use lights and other electrical decorations certified for outdoor use.
- Carefully inspect each decoration before plugging into an outlet. Cracked, frayed, loose or bare wires – as well as loose connections – may cause electrical shock or start a fire. Replace damaged items.
- Always unplug electrical decorations before replacing lightbulbs or fuses.
- Mount or support light strings with hardware designed for the job. Nails, staples and screws can damage a cord’s insulation.
- Unless the manufacturer says you can, never connect more than three light string sets together – unless they're LED light strings.
- Light strings with screw-in bulbs should have no more than 50 bulbs connected together, unless you’re using LED-style bulbs. Check the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Don’t overload extension cords – they can overheat and start a fire. Keep all outdoor extension cords and light strings clear of snow and standing water.
- Never use electric lights on a metallic tree. The tree can become charged with electricity from faulty lights.
- Keep children and pets away from electrical decorations. Even small light decorations can produce a fatal shock if they’re mishandled.
- Turn off all electrical decorations before leaving home or going to bed.
- Plug outdoor electric lights and decorations into circuits protected by ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs). You can buy portable GFCIs or extension cords with built-in GFCIs wherever electrical supplies are sold.
- Never nail, staple or screw extension cords.
