Home Safe is your Home?

The leading causes of injuries to children at home include burns, drowning, poisoning, cuts, and falls.
Safety experts maintain that the majority of these accidents can be prevented with a little foresight.

The two biggest areas of injury are the kitchen and the bathroom., many parents think that only toddlers get burned, but even school-aged children will sometimes get curious and touch a hot pot on the stove.

If you have young children in the house, be particularly careful to make sure that toxic substances such as cleaning fluids and prescription medicines are always placed out of reach.

Room-by-room guide to making your home safer for your child.

Kitchens
Post the numbers of the doctor, hospital, emergency service, and poison-control center on or near your phone.
Always pick up broken glass with wet paper towels, then wrap it in newspaper to avoid cutting someone later.
Teach children never to run with cutting implements or to toss them to someone else.
Store knives in slotted racks, trays attached to the wall, or in a secured drawer.
Don't store snacks over the kitchen range where children might be tempted to try and reach them.
Remove stove knobs or put covers on them when stove is not in use, or use a stove shield to prevent grease from splattering and burning those nearby.
Never transfer household products to a container that once held food. Use original containers.
Always buy the least hazardous products possible, and keep toxins out of sight, out of reach, and under lock and key.

Children are scalded by too-hot tap water every year in Australia.
To prevent scald burns, set the temperature on your hot-water heater to a maximum of 70°Celsius (120 Degrees F.)

Bathrooms
Unplug electrical appliances, like hair dryers, when not in use and store them in a locked cabinet or drawer.
Put nonslip decals or a rubberized mat in the tub or shower stall, and place a padded spout cover on the faucet.
Children are poisoned at home every year, many of these cases involve substances used commonly in most homes such as lotions, shampoos and detergents.
Install safety locks on the medicine chest to prevent children from reaching prescriptions, vitamins, soaps, and other toxic substances.

Living Room
Place a protective screen around the fireplace, and never leave children unsupervised when either is in use.
Because many common plants such as English ivy are poisonous, make sure that all houseplants are out of a child's reach.
Cover unused outlets with safety plugs.
Put breakables, such as vases and crystals, out of reach.
Pad sharp coffee tables, and remove glass tables, if possible.
Pad corners on a raised hearth, or cover edges with heat-resistant padding.

Hallway and Stairs
Use a carbon monoxide detector outside each sleeping area and near fuel-burning appliances, and test and change batteries on a regular basis.
Teach children to use the handrail on all stairways.
Keep stairways clear of all objects.
Never run up or down stairs or slide down bannister railings.

Children's Rooms
Each year many children are injured from falling out of windows.
Keep unopened windows locked, and move furniture away from windows.
Put guards even on ground-floor windows; screens offer the illusion of safety, but they're not strong enough to keep a child from falling out.
Tie drapery cords at the top of window coverings so children can't climb up them. Children under 10 can sometimes wriggle through an opening of just centimetres.
Make sure toy boxes are lidless. If one does have a lid, it should have a feature that prevents it from closing on a child's head or fingers.

Yards
Inspect all trees for rotting or loose branches regularly, and remove them promptly.
Check to see if any plants in the yard are poisonous, and remove them or isolate them with fencing.
Padlock the lid of the septic tank if it's at ground level.
Inspect gates and fences regularly to be sure they're free of rusty nails and splintered wood.

Garages
Petroleum products and other poisonous substances should be stored up high in appropriate containers, and locked.
Equip the garage door with an automatic reversing mechanism that will prevent the door from closing on a child.
Mount the control device for the garage high on a wall. Lock the remote in the glove compartment of your car.

In every level of your home, as well as in the hallways outside of sleeping areas, install an approved smoke detector.
Test each detector monthly, and change the batteries at least once a year.

Child-resistant does not mean childproof.