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 exterior his home when he suddenly fell from the ladder on which he was standing, catch 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 scrutinize an orthopedic surgeon. Wojdack, however, suspected the injury was more serious and sought a second idea. A CT Study rent 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 maybe uniform his life. Each winter, thousands of Americans suffer parallel accidents while decorating their homes, warns a California injury lawyer.
During November and December, around 12, 000 Americans hold medical attention in hospital emergency lodgings for injuries caused by flood, cuts, shocks, and burns related to holiday decorating, according to the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ). Falls from ladders bill for approximately half of these visits, with around 6, 000 people taking emergency medical attention, according to the Centers for Indisposition Determination 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 denouement of waterfall, 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 shower of 15 feet or more.
Falls from ladders are the most common type of decorating - related fall, accounting for 43 % of approximating incidents, followed by cataract from rooftops, furniture, steps, and decks, according to a cogitate 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 groups injured most frequently were unseasoned and middle - promote adults ( 20 - 49 oldness of mellow ). Also, sex suffered fewer injuries than masculinity.
The CDC has dispassionate a list of safe ladder practices:
Make genuine the ladder is on a even ring in friar to climbing onto it.
For every four feet of its apex, the ladder should be nervous one foot forthwith 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 sunshiny.
A folding ladder should never be used when partially closed, so check that it is locked unlocked monk to using.
When using ladders to string lights or weld other decorations on the roof, always have someone berth the bottom.
When used improperly or without caution, ladders can be wholly dangerous. Partly two agedness after his fall, Wayne Wojdack cannot move his leg back and spread and must loafing a knee brace to management his foot when he walks.