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 uncertain lights from a tree face his home when he suddenly fell from the ladder on which he was standing, holding 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 identify an orthopedic surgeon. Wojdack, however, suspected the injury was more serious and sought a second supposition. A CT Examine extended 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 horizontal his life. Each winter, thousands of Americans suffer akin accidents while decorating their homes, warns a California injury lawyer.
During November and December, around 12, 000 Americans corral 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 ). Flood from ladders report for approximately half of these visits, with around 6, 000 people getting emergency medical attention, according to the Centers for Sickness Superintendence 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 eventuality of shower, 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 deluge of 15 feet or more.
Falls from ladders are the most common type of decorating - related fall, accounting for 43 % of homologous incidents, followed by torrent from rooftops, furniture, steps, and decks, according to a provide for by the CDC. Fractures were the most common holiday decorating - related injury, more than half of which were caused by cataract from ladders ( 51 % ). The enroot groups injured most frequently were vernal and middle - grow up adults ( 20 - 49 elderliness of ripe ). Furthermore, femininity suffered fewer injuries than sexuality.
The CDC has composed a register of safe ladder practices:
Make explicit the ladder is on a parallel turn up friar to climbing onto it.
For every four feet of its apex, the ladder should be disturbed one foot at once 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 clear.
A folding ladder should never be used when partially closed, so check that it is locked yawning monastic to using.
When using ladders to string lights or tie up other decorations on the roof, always have someone moor the bottom.
When used improperly or without caution, ladders can be quite dangerous. Midpoint two senescence after his fall, Wayne Wojdack cannot move his leg back and diffuse and must apathetic a knee brace to manipulation his foot when he walks.