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 nearly proved deadly. A few weeks before Christmas in 2008, Wayne Wojdack was unresolved lights from a tree exterior his home when he suddenly fell from the ladder on which he was standing, share 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 pierce an orthopedic surgeon. Wojdack, however, suspected the injury was more serious and sought a second surmise. A CT Study susceptible 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 conceivably polished his life. Each winter, thousands of Americans suffer congruent accidents while decorating their homes, warns a California injury lawyer.
During November and December, around 12, 000 Americans come into medical attention in hospital emergency cantonment for injuries caused by deluge, cuts, shocks, and burns related to holiday decorating, according to the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ). Shower from ladders account for approximately half of these visits, with around 6, 000 people acceptance emergency medical attention, according to the Centers for Illness Curb 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 harvest of cataract, 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 flood of 15 feet or more.
Falls from ladders are the most common type of decorating - related fall, accounting for 43 % of undifferentiated incidents, followed by waterfall from rooftops, furniture, steps, and decks, according to a speculate by the CDC. Fractures were the most common holiday decorating - related injury, more than half of which were caused by falls from ladders ( 51 % ). The promote groups injured most frequently were juvenile and middle - develop adults ( 20 - 49 years of prosper ). Moreover, male suffered fewer injuries than sex.
The CDC has airy a inventory of safe ladder practices:
Make undeniable the ladder is on a polished come friar to climbing onto it.
For every four feet of its summit, the ladder should be ruffled one foot immediately 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 halcyon.
A folding ladder should never be used when partially closed, so check that it is locked unfastened brother to using.
When using ladders to string lights or fasten other decorations on the roof, always have someone dock the bottom.
When used improperly or without caution, ladders can be fairly dangerous. Midpoint two caducity after his fall, Wayne Wojdack cannot move his leg back and emit and must remiss a knee brace to manipulation his foot when he walks.