Holiday Health and Safety Tips

The holidays are a time to celebrate, give thanks, and reflect. They are also a time to pay special attention to your health. Give the gift of health and safety to yourself and others by following these holiday tips (from the CDC).

Wash your hands often. Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps you can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don’t have tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.

Stay warm. Cold temperatures can cause serious health problems, especially in infants and older adults. Stay dry, and dress warmly in several layers of loose-fitting, tightly woven clothing.

Manage stress. The holidays don’t need to take a toll on your health. Keep a check on over-commitment and over-spending. Balance work, home, and play. Get support from family and friends. Keep a relaxed and positive outlook. Make sure to get proper sleep.

Travel safely. Whether you’re traveling across town or around the world, help ensure your trip is safe. Don’t drink and drive, and don’t let someone else drink and drive. Wear a seat belt every time you drive or ride in a motor vehicle. Always buckle your child in the car using a child safety seat, booster seat, or seat belt according to his/her height, weight, and age.

Holiday and Christmas Tree Fire Safety

Decorating homes and businesses is a long-standing tradition around the holiday season. Unfortunately, these same decorations may increase your chances of fire. Based on data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), an estimated 240 home fires involving Christmas trees and another 150 home fires involving holiday lights and other decorative lighting occur each year. Together, these fires result in 21 deaths and $25.2 million in direct property damage.

What’s a traditional Christmas morning scene without a beautifully decorated tree? If your household includes a natural tree in its festivities, take to heart the sales person’s suggestion – “Keep the tree watered.”

Christmas trees account for hundreds of fires annually. Typically, shorts in electrical lights or open flames from candles, lighters or matches start tree fires. Well-watered trees are not a problem. A dry and neglected tree can be.

Following a few simple fire safety tips can keep the ever popular Christmas tree from creating a tragedy.

Selecting a Tree for the Holidays: Needles on fresh trees should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and the needles should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long and, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.

Caring for Your Tree: Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. The heat will dry out the tree, causing it to be more easily ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree. Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.

Disposing of Your Tree: Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or wood-burning stove. When the tree becomes dry, discard it promptly. The best way to dispose of your tree is by taking it to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.

Learn how to prevent a fire and what to do in case a fire starts in your home. Make sure all exits are accessible and not blocked by decorations or trees. Help ensure that you have a fire safe holiday season.

Keeping Children Safe During the Holidays

For many families, festive gatherings of relatives, friends, and neighbors are an important part of the holiday season. According to a recent Electrical Safety Foundation International consumer survey, more than sixty percent of holiday guests will be accompanied by children under the age of eighteen. It is up to adults to make sure that childhood curiosity does not result in disastrous consequences.

Keep child safety in mind as you prepare your home for the holidays. Look for and eliminate potential danger spots near candles, fireplaces, trees, and electrical outlets. Additional planning may be necessary if you plan to host young guests and do not currently have childproofing measures in place.

Every day, 7 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for electrical shock and burn injuries caused by tampering with a wall outlet, according to statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Seventy percent of child-related electrical accidents occur at home, when adult supervision is present.

Protect Your Family from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon Monoxide Can Be Deadly! You can’t see or smell carbon monoxide, but at high levels it can kill a person in minutes.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal is burned. If appliances that burn fuel are maintained and used properly, the amount of CO produced is usually not hazardous. However, if appliances are not working properly or are used incorrectly, dangerous levels of CO can result. Hundreds of people die accidentally every year from CO poisoning caused by malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning appliances. Even more die from CO produced by idling cars. Fetuses, infants, elderly people, and people with anemia or with a history of heart or respiratory disease can be especially susceptible. Be safe.

Prevention is the Key to Avoiding Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends these DOs and DON’Ts to keep your family safe:

New: Stylish Security Remotes from Ecolink

Home Controls is thrilled to have added several new products from Ecolink. Check out the new 4-Button security remotes (available in both GE-compatible and DSC-compatible versions).

• Ecolink GE-Compatible 4-Button Remote
• Ecolink DSC-Compatible 4-Button Remote

The Ecolink 4-Button Remote  provides convenient wireless control of any security system. With proven reliable wireless technology, exceptional range and four simple buttons, you can easily arm, disarm, and activate panic mode for your system. The remote is even water-resistant for use in the rain or shower.

Four Simple Buttons

• Stay Arming: Press this button to arm your system while you are still at home. All the doors and window will be armed but the motion detectors will remain in standby mode.
• Away Arming: Press this button to arm your system when no one will be home. All the sensors in the system will be in the armed mode.
• Disarm: Press this button to disarm your system. You do not have to enter your access code when you use this key to disarm the system.
• Panic: Press and hold this button to activate the panic mode of your security system. Depending on how the panel is programmed this will send a notification to your monitoring station and/or activate the alarm siren.

Each product has a six-digit unique serial number printed on the back. This is required to assign your remote to the security system. Read more »

Low Current Sirens from GE Security

Every now and then, I’ve been asked how to install three or more sirens for an alarm panel. Since most security systems typically have a max output of 1000 mA, 3 or more sirens would overload the panel.

A solution would be to use an external relay to power up the additional sirens.

A simpler solution is to use GE Security’s MPI-47 series of sirens. They draw 175 mA and come in three different mounting styles: recessed rectangular, recessed round or surface round. I prefer the recessed round in most cases because it is least conspicuous among the three. With a piezo sound output of 106dB, it can be very intense, especially if multiple ones are installed!

New: Maxsa Battery-Powered Outdoor Night Light

This one is really cool! The Maxsa Battery-Powered Outdoor Night Light as three bright LED lights that automatically turn on when motion is detected. It’s great outdoors, or indoors for hallways, closets, bathrooms, and emergency basement lighting.  The light installs with the included mounting bracket or simply stands on a flat surface. Uses 3 AA batteries (not included).

Don’t Miss a Step. Find the Lock! Built-in motion sensor automatically turns on the light when movement is detected.

3 Brilliant LEDs Illuminate a Wide Path: The light is perfect outdoors for steps, locks, walkways, sheds, and indoors for bathrooms, stairways, hallways, or anywhere else you need a night light.

Compact and Portable: Simple to install. Durable and weatherproof construction is great for indoors or out.

Great for Power Outages: Place one by each entryway, in hallways and by the circuit breaker panel. Light where you need it the most. Light uses 3 AA batteries.

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