How To Keep Your Home Safe
For each room, specific safety guidelines and precautions must be followed. The following safety precautions against typical domestic dangers will safeguard the entire family, not just your young child.
Install smoke detectors inside and outside of all bedrooms, and on each storey of the home. Make sure they are operational once a month. Smoke detectors with long-lasting batteries are ideal, but if you can’t find any, change the batteries once a year on a day you’ll remember. Create a fire escape strategy and test it so that you are ready for emergencies.
To prevent your youngster from inserting a finger or a toy into the holes in unused electrical outlets, install non-choking hazard safety plugs. If your child won’t keep away from the outlets, use furniture to limit their access. Electrical cords should be kept out of sight and out of reach.
Invest in a CCTV camera for your home. This can help you keep a check on who is visiting your home while you’re away and help out mailmen in case you can’t get to the door right away. Most importantly, in the unlikely scenario your home is broken into, you can figure out who the culprits are quickly thanks to your CCTV camera. Some of the top CCTV brands in India offer models at affordable prices, so you can make this particular investment without burning a hole in your pocket.
Carpet should always be used on stairs to prevent slipping. Make sure the rug’s ends are firmly secured. Install safety rails at the top and bottom of steps when your child is still starting to crawl and walk. Stay away from accordion rails, which can entrap a neck or arm.
Some houseplants can be dangerous. There will be a list or description of plants to avoid available from your local Poison Help Line. Keep all indoor plants out of the reach of children or, as a last resort, do without them for a while.
Keep an eye out on your floors for small things like coins, buttons, beads, hooks, and screws that a kid could ingest. This is especially crucial if there are older kids who own small goods or if someone in the household enjoys working with small objects.
You shouldn’t let your toddler go about with just socks if you have hardwood floors. Slippery floors become increasingly riskier when socks are worn.
Window blind and drapery cords can be wrapped around wall brackets to keep them off the ground or fastened to floor bases to hold them taut. On the cords, use safety stop devices. Cut any ring-containing strings and secure safety tassels. If they are left loose, children may strangle themselves on them.
Keep an eye out for the doors that separate the chambers. Since a toddler can run through glass doors, they are very dangerous; if you can, anchor them to hold them open. If you have one of these gates, you might want to take it down until your child is old enough to grasp how it operates. Swing gates can knock a small child off, while bifold gates might snag little fingers.
Inspect your home for any furniture with rough edges or pointed corners that your youngster could trip over and damage themselves on. (Coffee tables pose a specific risk.) Move this furniture if you can, especially if your youngster is learning to walk, out of the way. Additionally, padded furniture coverings that stick to the corners and edges are available.
Large furniture components like bookcases, TV stands, and floor lamps should all be stability-tested. Behind other pieces of furniture, tuck floor lamps, and tape TV stands to the wall. Children who climb on, fall from, or pull on heavy items of furniture run the risk of dying or becoming hurt.
Keep computers out of your child’s reach so that they cannot be pulled on him. Keep wires out of sight and out of reach.
If you can, open the windows in the upstairs. Install window guards that only an adult or older child can open from the inside if you have to open it from below. Never set anything a youngster could climb on in front of a window, including couches, low tables, chairs, and low tables. By doing this, you get access to the window and give yourself a chance to suffer a serious fall.
Never store children’s clothing or toys in plastic bags, and never leave them lying about the house. Particularly risky are dry cleaning bags. Before disposing of them, tie them off so that your youngster cannot climb inside of them or stand on them.
Anything you dispose of in the garbage should be considered potentially dangerous. Any garbage can that will contain hazardous materials, such as rotting food, used razor blades, or batteries, needs to have a child-resistant lid or be kept out of reach of children. Check your heat sources to prevent burns. To prevent your youngster from getting close to fireplaces, wood stoves, and kerosene heaters, screens should be installed. When the heat is on, watch how hot the electric baseboard heaters, radiators, and even the hot air burner vents become. These might also require screen protection.
A child should not be around or in the same room as a firearm. If you must keep a gun at home, lock it up and keep it unloaded. Lock up the ammo in a different location. Ask whether there are any guns present and how they are kept if your youngster plays at other people’s residences.
For a young child, alcohol can be quite poisonous. All alcoholic beverages should be kept in a secured cabinet, and those that aren’t used right away should be emptied.
Largely, it is essential that you stay cautious which can help you prevent any major accidents within your home. Follow the tips above and keep your family safe at all times!