December comes with a lot of activities as it’s a season of festivities due to the Christmas celebration.
The season, which also ushers into a New Year, is characterized by shopping, outings, travelling, and lots of merriment.
However, while one may be carried away with these activities, it is pertinent to note that the season also comes with its own downsides which include a rise in theft, fraud, accidents, and other crimes.
Though the security agencies are in place to tackle these vices, one must apply simple security tips to ensure safety this period.
In this piece, The PUNCH highlights five areas where security is required and tips on how to stay safe.
Contents
Travel safety
As common with most people, the rate of travelling during the Yuletide is always on the rise. These few tips would ensure safety during travel:
- Make sure doors are properly locked and items are kept safe before leaving the premises.
- Despite the excitement, ensure that drink-driving is avoided.
- In case of road travel, board buses with registered transport companies and always look out for your luggages while on transit. This also applies to air travel.
- When travelling with kids in the car, a child safety seat should be employed to ensure that they are safely tucked in.
- Ensure you use a life jacket for sea travel and boat cruises.
Fire prevention
With the presence of firecrackers and different kind of fireworks, safety must be applied to avoid an outbreak.
Also, the use of Christmas trees, candles, and other electrical decorations may lead to fire outbreak when not properly used.
- Avoid using faulty electrical appliances and ensure they’re away from arm’s length.
- For electrical repairs, seek help from a professional. Simple do-it-yourself hacks are not always advised.
- Ensure candles are properly extinguished before going to bed.
- Don’t use firecrackers close to residential or commercial areas.
Safe shopping
- Avoid moving with large amount of money. The advent of debit cards and mobile banking has made this easy.
- For online shopping, patronise authentic vendors. Avoid pop-up ads which may contain malware.
- Beware of scam and stay away from sharing sensitive information such as debit card number, bank verification number, and transaction PIN.
Food safety
Asides firecrackers and Christmas decorations, another major source of fire incident also emanates from the kitchen.
These tips would ensure food safety and prevent cooking-related hazards:
- Have presence of mind during cooking to quickly curtail impending dangers.
- Keep flammable objects like napkins and paper towels away from open flame.
- Ensure food ingredients/items are in good condition before cooking; to avoid food poisoning.
Home/personal security
- Avoid loud music. Not only does it cause noise pollution, it also attracts burglars.
- Be careful with sharing information about personal activities on social media, to prevent monitoring which may lead to kidnapping or theft.
- Keep all important documents safe and out of public eye.
- Gift items and flashy possessions should be kept properly and away from windows.
