Safety Tips 4 Your Home

Safety for your loved ones is one of the most important responsibilities as  a homeowner. From fire safety to bathroom safety, making your home safe and inviting is something to strive for as a homeowner. With small children, there are added precautions to take to prevent falling down stairs (my son did this and fortunately landed on a soft toy he was holding), getting into medicines and cleaning products or putting things into electrical outlets.

DID YOU KNOW? Keeping your home safe includes preventing falls inside and out, fires, burns, choking, cuts, poisoning and more.

It’s not an easy task. By taking a look around your home, you may see simple things you can do to make your home a safer place. Tasks such as cleaning up spills when they happen and keeping stairs clear will help to increase the safety in your home.

Quick List of Home Safety Tips

Follow these tips to keep your home a safe and welcoming place:

• Replace smoke detector batteries once a year.
• Tape small rugs to the floor to prevent tripping.
• Hold a family fire escape drill once a year.
• Keep cleaners and medications out of reach of children.
• For Poison Help call: 1-800-222-1222
• Have light switches at the top and bottom of stairs.
• To prevent burns, keep your hot water set at 120°^F

Special Safety Tips for Homes with Small Children

There are special safety tips for homes with small children, including the following:

• Use safety gates where children might accidentally fall down stairs.
• Protect children from dangerous items in cabinets and drawers by using safety locks.
• Cover electrical outlets with covers, plugs and/or plates to prevent children from electrical shock.
• When necessary, use special child proof latches or door knob protectors to prevent children from accessing unsafe areas of your home.

Your children are very clever and and ultimately children will figure out how to get past all of the safety devices on the market. You should therefore start teaching them about personal and home safety. Many things simply can't be protected, i.e. children might drag a chair over to the stove and lean over a hot burner. You want to teach them to test to see when something is hot, and to avoid it because burns aren't fun.