California Injury Lawyer Offers Safety Suggestions For Stringing Christmas Lights

California Injury Lawyer Offers Safety Suggestions For Stringing Christmas Lights

For one Sierra Madre man, decorating for the holidays partly proved deadly. A few weeks before Christmas in 2008, Wayne Wojdack was undecided lights from a tree guise his home when he suddenly fell from the ladder on which he was standing, part his leg in one of the rungs on his way down. The doctor at the emergency room told him he had dislocated his knee and recommended he mark an orthopedic surgeon. Wojdack, however, suspected the injury was more serious and sought a second assessment. A CT Inspect extensive a tear in the leg ' s artery. He was moved to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, where he underwent emergency surgery. His insistence on further testing prevented gangrene from developing, which could have claimed his leg—and feasibly exact his life. Each winter, thousands of Americans suffer complementary accidents while decorating their homes, warns a California injury lawyer.
During November and December, around 12, 000 Americans be told medical attention in hospital emergency residence for injuries caused by shower, cuts, shocks, and burns related to holiday decorating, according to the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ). Falls from ladders invoice for approximately half of these visits, with around 6, 000 people taking emergency medical attention, according to the Centers for Illness Force and Prevention ( CDC ).
At Huntington Hospital, where Wojdack was rushed for the torn artery in his leg, 62 % of all emergency room injuries treated throughout the holiday season are the creature of flood, according to the hospital ' s injury prevention coordinator with trauma services. In December 2009, 85 patients were treated in the hospital ' s emergency room for injuries from torrent of 15 feet or more.
Falls from ladders are the most common type of decorating - related fall, accounting for 43 % of jibing incidents, followed by flood from rooftops, furniture, steps, and decks, according to a scrutinize by the CDC. Fractures were the most common holiday decorating - related injury, more than half of which were caused by torrent from ladders ( 51 % ). The grow up groups injured most frequently were undisciplined and middle - mellow adults ( 20 - 49 agedness of advance ). Besides, manhood suffered fewer injuries than manhood.
The CDC has detached a record of safe ladder practices:
Make cold the ladder is on a proportionate loom prior to climbing onto it.
For every four feet of its vertex, the ladder should be roused one foot these days from the wall.
If you cannot reach something, move the ladder.
Do not stand on the ladder ' s top two rungs.
Keep the area around the top and bottom of the ladder bright.
A folding ladder should never be used when partially closed, so check that it is locked yawning religious to using.
When using ladders to string lights or wed other decorations on the roof, always have someone accommodate the bottom.
When used improperly or without caution, ladders can be fully dangerous. Nearly two elderliness after his fall, Wayne Wojdack cannot move his leg back and radiate and must apathetic a knee brace to restriction his foot when he walks.