With Thanksgiving just hours away, our staff members are preparing for a wonderful holiday with their families and friends, just like you. As experts in evaluating risk, though, every member of our team understands that this wonderful holiday must also be treated with caution.
This is because Thanksgiving can be just as stressful and even risky as it is joyous; this fact is further highlighted by several Thanksgiving-related statistics:
-More cooking-related home fires occur on Thanksgiving than on any other day – in fact, the number of filed cooking or grease related claims climb more on Thanksgiving than other day in November.
-Thanksgiving is the most popular holiday for travel in the country; more people on the roads, in a rush to reach their destinations, inevitably leads to a higher number of accidents.
-With a number of guests coming into households on this holiday, the number of claims for slips and falls on or close to Thanksgiving is also on the rise.
We know that it can seem a little daunting at first to think of Thanksgiving, a time of celebration, as a risky holiday. Fortunately, a few simple precautions can help keep you, your family, and your guests perfectly safe this holiday season, allowing you to enjoy yourself without trouble. Here are our top ten safety tips for this Thanksgiving:
- As you travel, give yourself some extra time to navigate the traffic. Do not drive recklessly; with more accidents than usual happening on the road right now, you want to keep yourself and your passengers as safe as possible.
- If you’re cooking or hosting, be alert as to what’s happening in your kitchen at all times; the last thing you want is for a guest who wanders into the kitchen to accidentally burn themselves on the stove or the pan you just pulled out of the oven.
- Check your smoke alarm batteries before you begin cooking.
- Use alarms and timers to ensure that nothing stays in the oven too long; then, as you move items in and out of the ovens, watch to make sure that your wrappers, dish towels and other fabrics and flammable items are far away from an ignition source.
- While we don’t recommend them due to the danger they pose, if you’re using a fryer, keep it in an open away – never in, on or under things like garages, porches, or other flammable structures near your home – and don’t leave the fryer unattended for any reason. Monitor the temperature of the fryer frequently as well. Never fry a turkey indoors.
- Follow the cooking directions; they exist for a reason. For example, you need to completely thaw and dry a turkey before cooking it because partially frozen or wet turkeys can result in hot oil splatters later in the process.
- Move slowly when picking up or lowering food; don’t risk splattering hot oil or grease by moving too quickly.
- Keep your skin covered to reduce the risk of being burned from any accidental hot liquid splatter – but don’t wear lose, baggy clothing, either: you don’t want your sleeves dangling somewhere they shouldn’t be!
- Keep in mind that you are responsible for the well-being of any guest at any age while they are on your property. Make guests aware of any slippery surfaces when they arrive, and remove any potential hazards in your home – from candles to sharp or fragile objects – from immediate reach while you have company.
- Keep pets as far away from the Thanksgiving preparations and food as possible. Not only does the kitchen pose a danger should anything hot or heavy fall onto a pet, but our Thanksgiving meals are often dangerous for pets; a lot of the food we eat either can’t be digested, or includes bones, which are major health hazards. Don’t risk the vet visit: keep your pets in a separate part of the house this holiday.
Following simple safety guidelines like these can help ensure that this holiday, your house is both happy and protected. Should an incident happen, however, both our staff and the local authorities are here to help you through it.
Our Fisher Widmann Flick Insurance Agency staff all wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe and enjoy it!
