Essential Safety Tips for Diwali to Prevent Burns and Injuries

Diwali, the festival of lights, is a holiday looked forward to with much fervor and joy. Diyas or candles are lit, and firecrackers are burst, which can cause burn injuries of various magnitude if not appropriately handled.
These injuries, unfortunately, are prevalent, and over the years, I have seen all sorts of injuries one can imagine- from a minor burn on the hand to debilitating blindness.

Fortunately, the precautions one needs to take to avoid injuries are easy and require no expense.
Unfortunately, many of us fail to follow these common-sense practices, resulting in a mishap.

Read on to know the safety tips for Diwali you should follow.

Diya lamp and safety

Diwali will be incomplete without lighting a diya. It, being an open fire, however, is a safety hazard. Here are the basic safety tips for Diwali for handling a diya:

• Where possible, use battery-operated diya.
• Where diya with live fire is used, make sure you keep children away from that area and do not allow any rough-housing or horseplay there.
• Always place the diya on a flat surface.
• Always keep the diya away from objects that can catch fire easily, e.g., curtains.
• Do not store or play with firecrackers where a lit diya is kept. Any fire source you use for the fireworks should be designated for that purpose only.

Firecracker-related safety tips.

• Always buy branded firecrackers that will follow certain standards of manufacturing.
• Store them safely away from any source of ignition. Even a single spark can lead to a major fire. Use sealed containers of wood or hard, sturdy plastic for storage instead of plastic bags.
• Burst crackers in an open space away from possible flammable substances like dry leaves.
• Always have handy a bucket of water or a water hose and a bag of sand to douse any fire.
• Avoid consuming alcohol and other intoxicants while bursting crackers.
• Never put a firework inside a container to light it. The explosion of these containers can result in shrapnels that can travel long distances at high velocities.
• Never burst a cracker in your hand, and always point crackers away from you or other people.
• Never carry fireworks in your pockets.
• Do not try to relight or handle malfunctioning fireworks- they can burst unexpectedly at any time.
• Do not allow children to use fireworks. Always let them watch them from a safe distance; sparklers, which are often considered safe, burn at very high temperatures and can cause severe burns.
• Older children should be closely supervised while handling fireworks.

What to wear?

• Only wear pure cotton clothing. Never wear silk or synthetic materials like polyester that catch fire very quickly and, as they melt, stick to the skin, which causes deeper burns.
• Do not wear clothes that trail behind you or long and flowy clothing like a scarf or dupatta.
• Do not wear clothes with long, loose sleeves, especially if you intend to light fireworks.
• Wear well-fitting clothes. Avoid loose or unbuttoned clothing.

Eye and ear safety.

• Wear safety glasses. Eye injuries are a common occurrence with fireworks, and one can even lose their eyesight.
• Never light a firecracker with your face floating above it!
• Wear earplugs or well-fitting earmuffs. This is often such an ignored and under-rated measure. The WHO recommends 140 decibels as the maximum safe level for adults. At a close range, fireworks are typically between 150 – 175 decibels- well above what is safe for the hearing.
• Turn off your hearing aid during a fireworks explosion.

Treating burn injuries from fireworks.

You must have handy a bucket of water or a hose and a bag of sand to douse any fire.

A minor burn may be managed initially at home, but in case of any significant burn, especially on the face, eyes, joints, hands, and genitalia, medical help should be sought immediately.

To know more about treating minor burns at home, read Burns First Aid At Home.
To know and assess how deep a burn injury is, read Different Degrees of Burns: Understanding Burns Classification.

Trivia

It is believed that the Chinese first invented fireworks in 2 B.C. in the form of a hollow bamboo stick thrown into the fire. It would explode with a bang due to the overheating of air pockets in the bamboo. The Chinese are also credited with the invention of gunpowder during 600-900 AD, and as they say, the rest is history.