Preventing Injuries and Staying Safe in Winter
Avoid the risks that come with cold weather, snow and ice, and holiday celebrations.
As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we brace for colder weather and shorter days that have more people spending time indoors. And while for many the season brings cozy holiday celebrations and the occasional snow day, winter can also bring risks for home fires, weather-related injuries, and car crashes.
“In the injury prevention field, we believe that every injury should be preventable,” says Elise Omaki, MHS ’11, senior research associate in Health Policy and Management and director of outreach at the Center for Injury Research and Policy. To help you prevent injuries this winter, Omaki and her colleagues explain common causes of injury and death in winter and offer tips to prevent them.
Heat Your Home Safely
Nearly half of home fires caused by heating equipment occur in December, January, and February. Before winter arrives, have your home heating system inspected to make sure it works properly and that the heat reaches all rooms in your home. If your home heating system can’t keep everyone warm enough, or it’s unavailable due to a power outage, be prepared with safe alternative heating options:
- Layered clothing and blankets.
- Portable space heaters, placed at least 3 feet away from furniture, drapes, or anything flammable.
- Fireplace or wood stove that has been inspected and has proper venting to the outside.
Don’t use ovens or stoves for home heating. “That's not a safe way to heat your home,” Omaki says, as doing so can cause fires, burns, and lethal buildup of carbon monoxide. For the same reasons, camping stoves should never be used indoors or as a source of heat. For cooking, they should only be used outside, at a safe distance from the house. And never run a generator indoors.
Because carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, having functioning carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home can provide an early warning and save your life. “If you only have one carbon monoxide alarm, put it near the bedrooms so it can wake you up,” Omaki says. Check the manufacturer's instructions about where and how to place the alarms.
Winter Weather Safety
Shovel safely
The American Heart Association warns that the combination of exertion required to shovel snow, combined with cold temperatures, can increase risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest. In regions where snowfall doesn’t happen frequently, people’s bodies may not be used to the physical demands of shoveling.
Older adults, people who don’t exercise regularly, and people with certain health conditions—heart disease or history of heart attack or stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a history of smoking—should get someone else to take care of snow removal. Everyone else can reduce the risk of injury by:
- Dressing warmly, including hat and gloves, and something to cover your mouth and nose. Change out of wet clothing.
- Pushing or sweeping snow instead of lifting it.
- Using a snowblower instead of shoveling.
- Taking frequent breaks to rest and warm up.
Related: Preventing Hypothermia (CDC)
Wear sunscreen
Even though the winter days are shorter, it’s still recommended to wear sunscreen on any exposed skin. In fact, your risk of sunburn is higher when there’s snow on the ground, as snow can reflect up to 80% of the sun’s harmful rays.
Winter Road Safety Tips
Drive safely
Winter weather can make driving particularly dangerous, due to reduced visibility, and slippery or snowy conditions. When snow collects on vehicles, it not only blocks the driver’s view of the road, but if it comes loose while in motion, it can create hazards for other drivers.
“You are your car's best safety feature,” says the National Safety Council, which emphasizes the importance of preparing your car for winter, knowing its limits (and yours), and practicing safe driving habits. Make sure to:
- Always wear your seatbelt.
- Clean snow and ice off your car completely—including the top of the vehicle—and be sure all windows, mirrors, and lights are clear.
- Winterize your car by checking battery performance, fluid levels, tire tread, and wiper blades.
- Keep a complete emergency kit in your car and easily accessible.
In very cold weather, it can also be helpful to warm up your vehicle before driving, but never do so in an enclosed space, which can cause carbon monoxide to build up. “If you're going to heat up your car, do it outside and not in a garage,” says Omaki.
Secure kids properly
Bulky coats keep us warm, but babies and kids should not wear them while riding in a car seat. “When you buckle a child into a car seat, they need to have all of their jackets and blankets off,” Omaki says. The child should only wear a thin base layer under the car seat harness, with the warmer layers placed over top of them. “You don't want [coats] between the child's body and the car seat harness, because if you're in a collision, all of that stuffing will compress.”
Be extra vigilant for pedestrians
“The most important aspect of wintertime [driving] risk is reduced hours of daylight and the heightened risk for pedestrians in hours of darkness,” says Jeffrey Michael, EdD, a distinguished scholar in Health Policy and Management. Since 2009, pedestrian deaths in the U.S. have increased, with the majority of those taking place at night, according to analysis of federal data. In addition to shorter days, snowstorms can make areas intended for pedestrians—sidewalks and bus stops—impassable, leading people to walk in roadways.
Celebrate Holidays Safely
Guidance for Gift Giving
Evaluating a potential gift item for its potential to cause injury may not be as fun as choosing based on color or style, but it will certainly show your recipient you care about them. This is especially important when giving gifts to children and new parents, says Eileen McDonald, MS, practice professor in Health, Behavior and Society.
“It’s important for people to be aware of some broad safety considerations: choking or strangulation risks, sharp edges, flammability, or whether toxic materials are present,” McDonald says. Such risks are regulated for items that are manufactured or sold in the U.S., she says, but online shopping makes it easy to purchase from overseas. “Of the millions of products that come into the U.S., only a small proportion of them are reviewed by customs,” says McDonald.
Kids will want to use their new gifts right away, and “nobody wants to spend their holidays in a busy ER,” McDonald says. In 2023 alone, over 154,000 injuries treated in emergency departments were associated with toys for kids 12 years and under, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Here are some essential tips for gifting with safety in mind:
- Check the CPSC’s list of product recalls.
- Any wheeled or rideable gift—bikes, skates, scooters—should be bundled with the appropriate protective gear, like a high-quality helmet and safety pads.
- Check that baby products have been reviewed and approved by the appropriate bodies—the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, for example.
- For kids, stick to toys with an appropriate age range listed.
- Complete the registration that comes with large items so the company can contact you in the case of a future issue or recall.
- Review every gift you purchase with a critical eye, especially if it’s for a child. Avoid gifting items whose prices seem too good to be true.
Decorating Dos and Don’ts
From adorning your home in Christmas lights to burning candles for the Festival of Lights, there are plenty of ways for holiday traditions to go wrong. Thousands of people are treated in hospital emergency rooms every winter with holiday decorating-related injuries, due largely to falls and fires, according to the CPSC. And nearly half of home Christmas tree fires are caused by electrical problems, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Some reminders as you decorate this season:
- Make sure live trees have plenty of water and that artificial trees are fire resistant.
- Inspect string lights for fraying before plugging them in, and don’t string together more than the manufacturer recommends.
- Never overload electrical outlets.
- Use flameless candles whenever possible.
- If using real candles, always keep them at least a foot away from anything flammable, and never leave burning candles unattended.
- Monitor children and pet activities around breakable ornaments and anything with a cord.
- Keep decorative plants out of reach from pets and children, as some are toxic if ingested.
- Remember, smoke alarms should be installed throughout your house and tested monthly.
Assess your home before hosting
If you’re planning to host a holiday gathering or play date, do a sweep of your house for safety risks. “There are a lot of hazards around the house that people don’t necessarily think about,” says Omaki. These could include rugs, loose floorboards, and poorly lit hallways—things that could cause someone unfamiliar with your home to slip and fall. Placing temporary gates at the top and bottom of staircases can also prevent falls.
In addition, Omaki recommends locking up medication and household cleaning supplies away from curious hands. Any firearms in the home should also be stored safely and securely—not just out of sight, but unloaded and locked away. For parents visiting someone else’s home or dropping a kid off to play, Cassandra Crifasi, PhD ’14, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions recommends asking the host about gun storage, just like you might ask about pets or food allergens.
Avoid the risks of alcohol use
Drunk-driving crashes and deaths rise during December, especially following Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. In the U.S., over 1,000 people died in December 2021 due to drunk-driving crashes. Never let someone else drive under the influence, and if you plan to drink, make sure to plan for a sober driver to take you home.
Beyond road safety, alcohol use can influence other decisions and cause riskier behavior in the home. “A tipsy parent might forgo some of their normal bedtime routines, like safe sleep behaviors for infants,” McDonald explains. “Bringing an infant into bed with them might be easier in the moment, but it creates an unsafe sleep situation for the child.”
Aliza Rosen is a digital content strategist in the Office of External Affairs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
