Transforming a home into a festive environment during the winter months creates a period of elevated risk for physical injury. Holiday decorating frequently leads to unexpected accidents, resulting in emergency room visits across the country. These incidents often stem from using temporary equipment and handling fragile or electrical items in environments not typically organized for such tasks. A “holiday-related decorating accident” covers any incident involving the installation or removal of seasonal items, including lights, artificial or live trees, ornaments, and the ladders or step stools used to reach high places. Working at heights and dealing with potentially fragile or electrically-powered decorations contributes to a surge in preventable injuries each year.
Quantifying the Annual Toll
The annual volume of emergency room visits directly attributable to holiday decorating remains consistently high, with official estimates typically falling in the range of 15,000 to over 18,000 people. This number represents individuals seeking medical treatment for injuries sustained during November and December. Compiled from national hospital data, these statistics confirm that this is a recurring public health issue tied to the holiday season. On any given day during this peak period, hundreds of people may require emergency care due to a decorating mishap.
These injury totals have remained relatively steady over the past decade, demonstrating the persistent nature of the risks involved. The annual figure often averages over 160 injuries per day during the season, underscoring why safety campaigns are regularly issued. The data shows a significant spike in emergency visits immediately following Thanksgiving, when many people begin decorating. Injuries also increase toward the end of the season when decorations are taken down for storage.
Common Accident Mechanisms
Falls
Falls constitute the largest category of decorating-related injuries, accounting for a substantial percentage of emergency room visits. These incidents are overwhelmingly associated with the improper use of ladders. Ladders are often placed on uneven ground or used when individuals attempt to overreach instead of moving the equipment. Falls from height can result in serious trauma, including fractures, sprains, and concussions, especially when working on roofs or elevated outdoor areas.
Lacerations and Electrical Injuries
Lacerations represent another common mechanism of injury, often involving the sharp edges of broken glass ornaments or the misuse of cutting tools. Handling fragile decorations, especially when rushing, can lead to deep cuts that require stitches or specialized wound care. Electrical injuries also contribute to the annual total, stemming from damaged light strands, frayed extension cords, or overloaded electrical outlets. These incidents can cause thermal burns or dangerous electrical shocks, particularly when faulty equipment is used outdoors in wet conditions.
Other Hazards
A smaller, yet concerning, subset of injuries involves children and pets, often relating to the accidental ingestion of small or hazardous decorative components. Toddlers, in particular, may mistake button batteries from small decorative lights or sharp pieces of broken glass for food. The holiday season also sees an increase in non-ladder-related falls. People often trip over improperly routed extension cords or boxes of decorations temporarily cluttering walkways, causing significant injuries such as wrist and ankle sprains.
Data Collection and Reporting
The specific public health statistics regarding holiday decorating accidents are tracked and compiled through a dedicated surveillance network. Data collection is primarily managed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) through its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This system operates by gathering information from a nationally representative sample of hospital emergency departments across the country.
Hospitals participating in the NEISS network submit detailed patient data for every emergency room visit associated with a consumer product. Trained coders abstract information from patient records, noting the product involved, the injury diagnosis, the mechanism of the accident, and the patient’s demographics. This coded data, often accompanied by a brief narrative description of the incident, is electronically transmitted to the CPSC.
The agency then applies statistical weighting methods to this sample data to produce the national estimates of injury incidence. This methodology allows the CPSC to accurately gauge the scale of product-related injuries, including those specific to holiday decorations, without needing to collect data from every single hospital in the nation.