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Home Safety Checklist
Your family will be healthier and safer if you all practice a little prevention.
First, "hazard proof" your home using the following checklist
developed by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Second, enroll
the whole family in CPR courses sponsored by the American Hearth Association
or the American Red Cross. Keep a first aid kit, including a first aid
manual, handy at home and on vacation. Replace supplies as they are used
or expire. Finally, keep up-to-date medical records for every member of
the family.
Help prevent injuries in your home.
Begin with this handy checklist:
- Have a first aid kit with appropriate items handy at all times.
- Buy medicines and other household products with childproof caps. Be
sure to keep these and all others out of reach of children.
- When cooking, use back burners and be sure to keep pot handles turned
inward.
- Set your hot water thermostat to no more than 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Be sure there are child-resistant safety latches on all cabinets and
drawers contain ing harmful substances. These include medications, cleaning
supplies and cosmetics.
- Don't put chemicals or medicines in food containers. Keep in original
containers.
- Keep syrup of ipecac (used to induce vomiting in some cases of poisoning)
in the home at all times. Use only on the advice of a poison control center
or emergency department.
- Keep toys with small parts and other small objects out of reach of toddlers
and young children.
- If you have a pool , install a four-sided fence with an automatic "child
proof" gate.
- Be sure all windows are secure. Install window guards to keep children
from falling out.
- Make sure your house number is clearly visible from the street.
- Be sure that plastic bags or other materials that may cause suffocation
are nowhere near the child's crib or bed.
- Be sure the toy box lid is easy for the child to open and close. Heavy
or hard to open lids are dangerous.
- Purchase toys appropriate for your child's age. In homes with more
than one child, be aware that older children's toys may be hazards for the
younger ones.
- Be sure there's a nonskid bath mat on the bathroom floor as well as
in the bathtub.
- Keep emergency numbers on EVERY telephone in your home. List ambulance
service, fire, police, the regional poison control center, and the emergency
department. Don't rely on "memory" telephone - it may not work
in a power outage.
- Install smoke detectors ands replace the batteries twice a year.
- Store firearms unloaded and locked. Firearms and ammunition should
be stored separately.
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