Christmas lights bring cheer, but also danger

It's that time of year to put up the holiday lights, but there won't be much cheer if safety isn't taken into account. Undated stock photo. | Photo by Pixabay, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY —  Thanksgiving is over and the Black Friday shopping madness has come to an end. Many people are now gearing up for the holiday season and for some, that means putting up Christmas lights.

House No. 5 on the “2016 St. George Utah Christmas Light Spectacular” map features a red, white and blue theme on the roof that is sure to attract attention, St. George, Utah, Dec. 4, 2016 | Photo by Hollie Reina, St. George News

While holiday light displays can be beautiful and loved my many, the process of putting the lights up can be dangerous.

“Ladders, falls from roofs, you name it, it happens,” Dr. Shane D. Lewis, System Medical Director of Safety and Risk for Intermountain Healthcare said. “Even electrocution can occur while people are out there doing these beautiful decoration hanging.”

Every holiday season about 15,000 people are hurt while decorating, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“We see a large variety of injuries during this time from the decorations,” Dr. Lewis said. “A lot of them are broken bones, we see even rib fractures, punctured lungs. So, they will fall, break some ribs, and those ribs then penetrate the lung so they have a collapsed lung, and these could be really severely life threatening in the moment.”

Read the full story here:  Fox13Now.com

Written by SYDNEY GLENN, Fox13Now.com

Copyright 2019, KSTU. A Tribune broadcasting station

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