ILOILO City – Do not sacrifice safety for affordability.
When it comes to buying Christmas lights, price should not be the determining factor, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Western Visayas.
“Christmas lights have standard pricing. Cheaper ones are most likely of low quality and could endanger your lives and properties,” said Senior Superintendent Jerry Candido, BFP Region 6 director.
Buyers must also look for the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) sticker because this guarantees that the product has been certified to be of good quality, safe, and conforms to relevant Philippine National Standards.
“Items without ICC sticker, indi kamo magbakal,” said Candido, adding that Christmas lights nowadays are imported.
All certified Christmas lights that are imported come with PS (Philippine Standard) marks or ICC stickers.
As a general rule, the PS mark or ICC sticker should be placed on the product itself, except in cases where affixing the mark/sticker to the product is not practicable, such as on ballasts, self-ballasted lamps, single/double capped fluorescent lamps, incandescent lamps, circuit breakers, electrical tapes, wires and cables, and flat cord; or if affixing the sticker to the product will cause damage to its original packaging such as on television sets, air-conditioning units, refrigerators, and microwave ovens.
If the sticker is affixed on the packaging, the importers, distributors, dealers, traders or retailers shall ensure that the corresponding box/package of the displayed unit is available for verification by monitors/enforcers of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
As to the use of Christmas lights, Candido said these must not be switched on for 24 hours straight to avoid overheating which could cause fire.
Switch them off and unplug them from their electrical sockets before going to bed at night, said Candido.
Also, when setting up Christmas lights, these should be far from flammable materials, he added.
Mounting them on concrete walls is ideal, Candido added, “para ingkaso nga magkalayo, indi dayun maglapta.”
For its part, DTI has long been reminding the public that products without the proper markings (ICC and/or PS) is an indication that these were not properly checked by authorities.
Buyers are also advised to look for other important labels on the package of Christmas lights such as the name, address, trademark of the importer or the distributor of the product to easily track the distributor for possible complaints; rated voltage and rated wattage of the set; rated voltage and rated wattage of the lamp; the words “For indoor use only”; and even the country of origin.
According to the DTI, consumers may even request the establishments to show their ICC certificates to validate if they are transacting with suppliers that are authorized by the DTI to sell safe sets of Christmas lights with the ICC mark.”/PN
