Home Safety Tips
Everything you need to know to keep your kids safe in your home.
Every parent wants their children to grow up healthy and strong in the place where they deserve to feel safest:
at home. The good news is that there are simple and easy steps that families can take to protect their children.
Preventing Falls Poison Prevention
• Use approved safety gates at • Store all household products and cleaning solutions out
the tops and bottoms of stairs of children’s sight and reach. Young kids are often eye-
and attach them to the wall, level with items under the kitchen and bathroom sinks.
if possible. Remember to read
the manufacturer’s instructions • Keep cleaning products in their original containers.
to make sure you have the Don’t put a potentially poisonous product in something
right gate for your needs. Not other than its original container (such as a plastic soda
all gates are safe for use at the bottle) where it could be mistaken for something else.
top of stairs.
• Put the toll-free Poison Help Number into your phone in
• Keep babies and young kids strapped in when using case of emergency: 1-800-222-1222.
high chairs, swings or strollers. When placing your baby
into a carrier, remember to place the carrier on the floor, Safety from Fire
not on top of tables or other furniture. • For the best protection, install
smoke alarms on every level
• Properly install window guards and stops to prevent of your home, especially near
window falls. Windows above the first floor should have sleeping areas. Test batteries
an emergency release device in case of fire. every six months.
Water Safety • Create and practice a home fire
• Actively supervise children escape plan with two ways out
in and around water. Avoid of every room. In the event of a fire, leave your home
distractions of any kind, such immediately. Once you’re out of the house, stay out.
as reading or talking on the
• Keep anything that can catch fire, such as dish towels or
phone.
wooden spoons, away from your stovetop. Have a fire
• Once bath time is over, extinguisher in the kitchen in case of emergency, and
immediately drain the tub. make sure you know how it works.
Keep toilet lids closed and keep doors to bathrooms
• Blow candles out when you leave the room or before
and laundry rooms closed to prevent drowning.
you go to sleep.
• Make sure home pools have four-sided fencing that’s
at least 4 feet high with self-closing, self-latching gates
to prevent a child from wandering into the pool area Every year, more than
unsupervised. 2,200 children die from
injuries that happen
• Every child is different, so enroll children in swimming at home.
lessons when you feel they are ready.
Teach young children from an early
age not to go near or in water without
an adult. Older children should swim
with a partner, every time.
For more information visit [Link]. © 2015 Safe Kids Worldwide®
Preventing Burns Medication Safety
• Don’t carry a child while cooking on the stove. It’s • Put all medicine and vitamins up
better to put your child in a high chair where you can and away and out of sight after
still see them. every use.
• Keep an eye on appliances such as irons, curling irons • Use the dosing device that comes
or hair dryers that can heat up quickly or stay warm. with the medicine, not a kitchen
Unplug and safely store these items after use. spoon. Kitchen spoons aren’t all
the same, and a teaspoon or
• Keep appliance cords out of children’s reach, especially tablespoon used for cooking won’t
if the appliances produce a lot of heat. measure the same amount as the dosing device.
Preventing Scalds Preventing TV and Furniture Tip-overs
• To prevent accidental scalding, • Mount flat-panel TVs to the wall
set your water heater to 120 to prevent them from falling off
degrees Fahrenheit or the stands. Follow the manufacturer’s
manufacturer’s recommended instructions to ensure that you
setting. Check the water with have a secure fit.
your wrist or elbow before
giving your baby a bath. • Use brackets, braces or wall straps
to secure unstable or top-heavy
• To prevent hot food or liquid furniture to the wall.
spills, use the back burner of your stove and turn pot
handles away from the edge. Keep hot foods and • If you have a large, box-style cathode ray tube (CRT)
liquids away from the edge of your counters and TV, place it on a low, stable piece of furniture. If you no
tables. longer use your CRT TV, consider recycling it. To find a
recycle location, go to [Link].
Safety from Carbon Monoxide
• Make sure your home has a Sleep Safety
carbon monoxide alarm. For the • Make sure babies sleep on their
best protection, install a carbon backs and in their own crib,
monoxide alarm on every level bassinet or play yard. Room
of your home, especially near sharing is a safer option than
sleeping areas. having your baby sleep in bed
with you.
• Don’t use a grill, generator
or camping stove inside your • Choose a firm mattress covered
home, garage or near a window. Don’t use your oven with a tight-fitting crib sheet for your baby’s crib.
or stovetop to heat your home. Avoid using soft bedding, pillows, stuffed animals and
bumpers in the crib.
• If you need to warm a vehicle, remove it from the
garage immediately after starting. Don’t leave a car,
SUV or motorcycle engine running inside a garage,
even if the doors are open.
For more information visit [Link]. © 2015 Safe Kids Worldwide®