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Christmas time is a family time where we all feel pressured into having the “Perfect “ Family time, playing games and eating good food. Reality is often another thing with a third of us feeling more stressed than usual over the festive period.
There’s increased pressure to cook, keep guests entertained and provide a perfect day for those we love… there’s a real thing called Festive Fear… and we are here to help smooth over the cracks after the last bauble has been packed away.
Maybe it’s the novice cooks in the kitchen or the pressure of producing a gourmet Gordon Ramsay style dinner that gets to us. There were an estimated 40,000 accidents in the kitchen last Christmas, These range from boiling the sprouts dry to more serious burn marks on kitchen surface or electrical fires from overheating of kitchen equipment. Its only Sunday lunch with a few extras!!!!
We see an increasing number of accidents involving aromatherapy and fashion candles left unattended and causing damage around the home. One in five of all house fires caused by candles occurs during December and leaving an unattended candle close to the Christmas tree is claimed to start over 7,000 house fires during the festive period. Our finishers are constantly called to restore damage caused by candle fires or by hot wax left to melt on surfaces. Always treat candles and tea lights with respect.
As we take pleasure in decorating our homes this Christmas, remember that over 1,000 people are hurt each year whilst decorating their Christmas tree. Always ensure you use a ladder to reach difficult spots otherwise you will be calling us in to restore damage that falling baubles or (even worse!) falling people have caused.
One in 40 people suffer from electrical shocks from badly wired Christmas lights and overloading sockets can lead to overheating and electrical fires. We regularly see smoke and flame damage in homes caused by electrical accidents, causing house fires to start.
We all love to get into the spirit of Christmas with our favourite tipple. Over 340,000 accidents happen each year as a result of too much alcohol, many which cause damage to fittings and fixtures around the house as excitement mounts when fuelled by champagne.
Twister, the cornflake box game, charades.. classic yuletide games that often end painfully! Accidents happen and nasty gashes in the sideboard or scratches on the coffee table are some of the items we are often asked to repair after a games night.
Make sure you take care when going on walks over Christmas. The ground can be very slippery and no one wants to spend Christmas in hospital after a bad fall. We can help repair any accidental damage caused by ice or snow around your property.
How many deliveries do we get every day in the lead up to Christmas? The answer is too many and all of those fraught delivery drivers are rushing around as fast as they can. Damage to gate posts, driveways and garden walls increases when van drivers accidently knock into them.
According to recent survey: 49% of respondents have suffered an accident whilst preparing Christmas food, with 1 in 10 having spilled hot fat on themselves and 1 in 5 cutting themselves whilst preparing vegetables.
Try to keep everyone other than the cook, especially pets and children, out of the kitchen and refrain from giving the chef too many glasses of prosecco until lunch is on the table.
We have all done it – brought a present that needs careful construction before it’s ready to use. Ensure you have necessary scissors and screwdrivers at the ready. Many injuries occur on Christmas Day as people battle to open difficult packaging as quickly as possible, using makeshift tools to try and fix them together whilst eager hands try and help.
Dragging a large tree into your flat or house is, not surprisingly, a common cause of damage to paintwork or flooring. Nasty marks on wooden floors or damp patches where someone has watered the tree are all problems that we can resolve.
As we squeeze extra seats around the dining table or move furniture around to accommodate extra relatives, chips and dents to our furniture are annoying and not easy to fix. Our team can repair the damage so it looks like nothing happened and Great Aunt Maud can come again next time.
Lauren Robson , Insurance Account Manager, explains:
During Covid-19 we are all wary of tradesmen in the home. Instructing Plastic Surgeon to a claim means that finishers can often make just one quick visit to a claimant’s home, completing the whole restoration job within a few hours. This means that disruption and inconvenience are kept to a minimum. “There are almost too many areas of accidental damage at Christmas time to mention! From worktop burns caused by over enthusiastic Christmas cooks, holes in doors and walls from an exuberant party goer, to Christmas trees causing damage on wood or tiled flooring, the list is endless.
“These types of claims are considered small and low value and can therefore often be overlooked as insignificant by insurers. However, what is often neglected, is the amount of work that is involved if damaged items are replaced rather than repaired.
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