Safety issues to check at home at Christmas time – our checklist helps reduce accidents, especially in the home of an elderly person

Preparing for the Christmas season brings a lot of joy, but the festive season also involves accident risks, especially for the elderly. As we age, especially living alone and reduced functional capacity predispose us to accidents. We can improve the safety of festive preparations together. Friday 13 December is the Accident Prevention Day.

An increasing share of the Finnish population is ageing. At the same time, living alone is becoming more commonplace. In many homes, an elderly person is preparing for Christmas alone, even if the actual holiday is celebrated together with family and friends.

“People often prepare for the festivities by looking for Christmas decorations in the attic, cooking, and burning candles. If a person’s functional capacity has decreased with age, it is particularly important to ensure that everyone can enjoy Christmas safely,” says Anna Ranta, Health Promotion Planner at the Finnish Red Cross.

One way to improve safety is to conduct a “safety walk” in your own home or with an elderly loved one in their home. You can use an everyday safety checklist tailored for the elderly to help you find any dangerous areas at home and prevent accidents in advance.

Check at least these with elderly loved ones before Christmas:

• Almost two out of three fires at home start when cooking. Hobs and ovens with a timer and stove guards make the kitchen safer.
• Most fires caused by indoor and outdoor candles happen around Christmas. If necessary, you can replace candles with a light garland that can be timed to switch on and off automatically.
• You should check the placement and number of smoke alarms and whether they work.
• Ensure that you store no flammable material near places like your hob or fireplace.
• Store Christmas decorations somewhere you can access them without climbing high. Instead of a rickety stool, have a sturdy household ladder with handrails ready at home.
• If it is slippery outside, wear shoes with a good grip even on quick trips to the post box.

You can find the full checklist at kotitapaturma.fi: Checklist for the elderly and their family members

Sufficient functional capacity helps you act in an emergency

Limitations of functional capacity pose a particularly high risk when accidents happen. For example, escaping a fire requires that the person realises the seriousness of the situation and is then able to extinguish the fire, rescue themselves or even save others.

“For this reason, maintaining functional capacity equals to maintaining safety. By addressing risks, you can make it easier for yourself to escape and call for help in the case of an emergency, for example. Still, at the societal level, it is important to ensure that people do not have to live alone when leading their everyday life is no longer safe for them,” says Outi Ronkainen, project Manager at the Finnish National Rescue Association.

“Festive preparations bring joy to people of all ages. The most certain way to improve safety and raise your festive spirit is to prepare together with your loved ones or, for example, local residents,” adds Anna Ranta.

The Accident Prevention Day campaign is held between 9 and 15 December. The Accident Prevention Day is always celebrated around Friday the 13th. The campaign encourages you to think about how everyone could reduce risks and prevent accidents at home, during leisure time and at work. The campaign is organised by an accident prevention network consisting of organisations, authorities and private actors, coordinated by the Finnish Red Cross.

More information about the Accident Prevention Day campaign:

Health Promotion Planner Anna Ranta, Finnish Red Cross, anna.ranta@redcross.fi, tel. +358 (0)40 480 6973

More information on fire safety:

Project Manager Outi Ronkainen, Finnish National Rescue Association, outi.ronkainen@spek.fi, tel. +358 (0)40 351 6941

The Accident Prevention Day website (in Finnish)