Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

It’s one of the most joyous times of the year, but it can also be one of the most dangerous. According to officials with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there were close to 20,000 emergency room injuries that involved holiday decorating through the months of November and December in 2012.

This is the fourth year in a row that the number of these injuries has increased. Each year since 2009, there have been roughly 12,000 E.R. visits as a result of injuries from holiday decorations. Stepping on broken ornaments and falling off of ladders may be funny in the movies, but are real dangers in real life. These kinds of accidents happen each and every day in homes across the country. We’ve also got to be cautious of fires during this time of year. With beautifully-lit Christmas trees and lights and candles to brighten our holiday spirits, we’re also facing some serious risks for fire-related accidents.

Our Boston personal injury lawyers note the U.S. sees close to 300 injuries each and every day throughout the holiday season. The most common types of injuries throughout the season involve falls, lacerations and back strains. There are also about 200 fires reported every season, causing about 10 fatalities, 20 injuries and more than $16 million in properly loss. From 2009 to 2011, candle-related fires killed about 70 people, injured another 700 and cost close to $310 million in properly loss.
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On average, more than 165 people are killed each year as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), there are thousands more who end up in hospital emergency rooms from the odorless, colorless gas. This dangerous gas interferes with the delivery of oxygen in the blood to the rest of the body. It is produced by the incomplete combustion of fuels. Kerosene heaters, generators and other winter heat sources are a primary threat.

Breathed over long periods of time, low concentrations of CO may also contribute to other illness. Luckily, there are a few simple measures that you can take to prevent these problems and injuries. One of the most common of the preventative measures is to install a CO alarm to detect potentially deadly conditions.

Our Stoughton personal injury attorneys know this dangerous gas can come from many devices we have in our homes. They can include fuel-burning devices such as furnaces, gas or kerosene space heaters, boilers, gas cooking stoves, water heaters, clothes dryers, fireplaces, charcoal grills, wood stoves, lawn mowers, power generators, camp stoves, motor vehicles and some power tools with internal combustion engines. Because CO is odorless, colorless, and otherwise undetectable, people may not know that they are being exposed. The initial symptoms of low to moderate CO poisoning are similar to the flu (but without the fever).
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