It’s not even Halloween, but the federal Grinch has already appeared, armed with new regulations, to un-deck the halls of America.
On Tuesday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released twenty-five pages of new rules governing “seasonal and decorative lighting projects”– basically everything from strings of lights to glowing Santa Clauses.
The Hill reports that the proposed requirements are an attempt to prevent electrical fires and other dangers caused by faulty lights. They note that, according to the CPSC, more than 250 people have been killed since 1980 due to decorative light malfunction since 1980, which seems to put the overall consumer risk level somewhere around “ludicrously low.”
In fact, after a high of 13 fatalities per holiday season in the early 1990s, the number of deaths has declined to roughly one per year.
Still, like an overprotective parent, the government is worried about us and wants us to be safe.
“Consumers can be seriously injured or killed by electrical shocks or fires if seasonal and decorative lighting products are not made using minimum wire size, sufficient strain reliefs, or over-current protection,” the commission wrote.
The Commission notes that the public has 75 days to comment on the proposed rules before they take effect.
