Getting injured while carrying out home improvements or decorations is more common than you’d imagine. Slipping down and breaking a leg or even just twisting an ankle badly enough can see you taking a trip to the local hospital and being off work for a few days to recuperate. It can be a costly mistake when you don’t take the proper precautions before going ahead with your home changes.
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Here are a few ideas on how to avoid injuries while performing home improvements or decorating your home.
Use a Safety Harness
Sometimes, you’ll be making repairs, maintenance, or redecorating at a height above the ground. It’s all too easy to lose your footing and fall. That might be falling off a ladder or the side of the building to the next floor. Hospitals have seen it all when it comes to overly adventurous homeowners who didn’t think they needed to consider their safety before climbing.
A quality fall protection harness straps around you and can be hooked onto something secure to hold you in place. Whether stepping over a landing to paint the other side, fixing an outdoor light that’s 10 feet off the ground, or cleaning out the gutters, protecting yourself from bodily injury is a necessary precaution that’s worth taking.
Get Support When Climbing a Ladder
Don’t think that the ladder is secure and won’t slip while you’re climbing up or down. While they usually have rubber feet to hold them in place, it’s possible that they’ve been worn down or that the ground is more slippery than you thought. Strange things happen when putting an extra couple hundred pounds up on a ladder positioned at an angle!
Make sure you have someone there to hold the ladder while you climb up when you’re on it, and when climbing back down too. There’s no safe time on a ladder. Don’t believe us? Half a million Americans fall off ladders and injure themselves annually, and 97 percent of those happen at their residence. Don’t be a statistic.
Wear Protective Gear with Home Decorations
Whether you’re stripping off plaster or painting the walls, it’s amazing what debris flies into the air when getting going with home decorations. The eyes can quickly get clogged up when dust and plaster mix with the air particles. When working with paint or wood, paint specs or wood chips can hit the eyeball and cause discomfort or permanent damage to your vision. Wear a pair of protective eyewear to prevent this from happening.
Also, wear some overalls to cover yourself when doing any major renovations. Expect to get your sneakers messed up, too. Be careful when using any power tool, as it can be dangerous when you’re not used to them or failing to pay enough attention.
Lastly, if you’re redecorating a room, use a drop cloth to avoid damaging the flooring. If you cannot move furniture out of the room, cover it with plastic sheeting, too.
