Ladder Safety Tips for Hanging Holiday Lights: Ensure a Safe Festive Season

Okay, so it’s time to start thinking about hanging holiday lights! I know, I know… it’s not the most glamorous or exciting thing to do, but the end result sure does rock! That’s said… who likes to crawl on their roof from a ladder? According to the World Health Organization, the United States leads the world in ladder deaths. Each year, there are more than 164,000 emergency room-treated injuries and 300 deaths in the U.S. that are caused by falls from ladders.

Carrying long strands of lights up a ladder can pose a danger if you step on the strands or try to carry too many things at once. Untangle the light strands and carry all decorations carefully, in light loads, to avoid making unsafe movements while you’re on the ladder.

Ladder safety tips

If you’re going to use a ladder this year to install your own Christmas lights, we want to make sure that you’re going to do so safely. Check out our ladder safety tips below and make sure that you’re safe!  After all… If you don’t cook the holiday dinner… who is going to eat it!?

• Don’t Use a Ladder Without Your Balance

  • If you’re sick, feeling wonky or don’t have good balance for whatever reason, don’t climb a ladder!  Climbing anything, especially a ladder requires that you have balance and things like medical conditions, illness or even a “long night last night ;)” can affect this. Basically if you don’t feel comfortable using a ladder, don’t use it!

• Don’t Use Ladders During Storms

  • This one is especially important during the holiday season. Climbing a ladder in rain, high winds or snow/sleet/hail means you’re going to have a bad time. And that is just climbing the ladder, not even getting on a roof! No one should be on a roof during any kind of weather!

• Use The Right Size Ladder

  • This one might not be the first thing you think of, but if your ladder is too short, don’t even think about using it to try to get on your roof. This isn’t’ rock climbing, so make sure that ladder reaches over your roof line enough to safely get you there!

• Use Proper Footwear

  • Ladder rungs turn into slippery bananas with the wrong shoes. Don’t wear your dress shoes, your slippers, etc. Make sure you’re climbing ladders using proper non-slip shoes. 

• Check That Your Ladder is Working

  • No one wants a wobbly ladder. Make sure that all rungs are secure,  and make sure that it’s structurally sound. If your ladder is loose or has signs of breaking, cracking or failing, you don’t want to use it. 

• Read the Safety Information Labels on Your Ladder

  • This one goes along with making sure your ladder is in good condition. Make sure you read the labels on your ladder. They are specific to the ladder you’re using. They will give you weight, height and angle information. If there is a step that says “Don’t step on this step” then you shouldn’t! 

• Support Your Ladder Correctly

  • You’d think this goes without saying, but you want to make sure that your ladder is placed on a flat surface that is free of debris and is a non-slip surface like brick, dirt or concrete. This will insure that your ladder is going to safely support your load and isn’t going to slip. 

Benefits of Using A Professional Holiday Light Installer

All of the safety tips aside, there is an easy way to insure that you don’t fall off a ladder this year!  That solution is to use a professional Christmas light installer, like Kind Home Solutions. The main benefit to using a professional is that they will be the ones climbing the ladder!  But, it also means that they are licensed and insured, so should something go wrong it won’t cost you anything. Additional benefits are that will follow all of the above safety rules, keeping your light installation project on track and safe. 

Call Kind Home Solutions To Install Your Holiday Lights

If you’re not sure about using a ladder to get on your roof, or aren’t sure about whether you can safely hang your lights yourself Kind Home Solutions is here to help. All of our installers follow safety protocols and are full insured so give us a call at 720-370-3063 to discuss hanging your holiday lights this year. Please feel free to contact us today if you require any further information.