Safety tips that could save your life this holiday

Every year, the Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) does media campaigns on safe driving during the Christmas holiday season. Many Nigerians travel to their hometowns, and sometimes, accidents occur on the roads. Safety is even more important during the holidays as there is a tendency to get over-relaxed and throw caution to the wind.?

The holiday season can easily go from fun to sadness when proper safety measures are not followed. Whether at home, on the road, or at parties, we have to play our roles to ensure a safe holiday for us and those around us.?

To do this, we would be considering some useful safety tips you can adopt. The tips are split into three main parts: safety at home, road safety, and other safety tips.

Safety at home

There’s a high chance there’ll be increased footfall in your home during the holidays.

We often have more visitors at this time. We do a lot of decorating, cooking, and cleaning it is wise to put common safety measures in place such as:

1. Be careful with holiday lights. Look for frayed or broken wires and replace or remove them.?
2. Turn off the holiday lights when leaving the house.
3. Avoid overloaded extensions. Plugging so many devices and electrical plugs are a potential fire hazard.
4. For Christmas tree setups, keep away from heat sources. Use fire-resistant variants for artificial trees and properly water and tend to live trees.
5. Keep children and pets away from heat and electrical points.?
6. Closely monitor children and pet movements during this time.
7. Be cautious when using ladders. Ensure it has a solid foothold on the adjoining floor, don’t use bad ladders, and where possible, have someone hold the ladder while you climb. Make sure you have at least one hand on the ladder at all times.?

Road safety

Road safety is ever important as the holidays are laden with lots of traveling. Some safety tips to consider:

1. Drive defensively.?
2. Always use seat belts.
3. Consider other road users including pedestrians, cyclists, etc.?
4. Don’t drink and drive. If you must drink, don’t drive, and vice versa. Yes, you may think you’re still sharp but the drunk-driving accident stats show that this is not often the case. Better safe than sorry.
5. Adhere to traffic signs and instructions from traffic wardens
6. Watch your speed limit, you’ll get to your destination anyway. No need to increase the chance of an accident and never reaching your destination.
7. Avoid distractions while driving. Keep the phones away. It’s even recommended to properly park before answering calls even through the speakerphone. You need full concentration to drive and entertaining distractions like very loud music, intermittent phone calls, and phone pressing can put you at a huge risk.
8. Wear a helmet. Always wear a helmet if you're riding a bicycle or motorbike. This reduces the risk of severe head injury should there be any accidents.

Other safety tips

Our constant use of the internet means we have to be careful with our safety online as well. See below some online and other safety tips to consider this holiday:

1. Guide your personal and financial information. As you shop online, be extra careful about what websites you share your personal and financial details with to limit exposure to bad actors. You can shop with a separate pre-funded card not connected to your bank account.
2. Cook safely. Food poisoning is real and with so many cooks for the holidays, you have to ensure proper, healthy cooking is done. Don’t leave raw meat open for long, properly cook meats, and refrigerate leftover foods.
3. Don’t get carried away while cooking to avoid fire incidents.
4. Keep a fire extinguisher close by (at home or in a car) and learn how to use it.

The holiday season is one of joy, laughter, and warmth. The above safety tips will go a long way in keeping you and your loved ones safe.

Do you have any other safety measures to share?

Let us know through any of our social media channels.