Keep Your Home Disaster Free

Tips for a Disaster-Free Home

 

A home promises comfort and security, an escape from the hectic world. Unfortunately, it can also be the place where you are most likely to get injured.

So what can be done to disaster-proof your home? These tips will help improve safety in every room of your home.

Kitchen:
Household chemicals, which are often stored under the kitchen sink, are burn and poison hazards.  You can greatly decrease accidents to children and pets by installing child safety locks. Also, be prepared. Keep telephone numbers for poison control and the emergency room nearby.
To reduce your risk of food poisoning, always wash your hands, cutting boards, the sink and countertops with soap and water after working with raw meat.

Bathroom:
Falls in showers and bathtubs and on slippery tiles are the major causes of bathroom injuries. Prevent slips by utilizing rubber bath mats and floor rugs and keeping floors dry. Handle bars in tubs, showers and near toilets will also reduce the number of falls that occur.
Water and electricity have never been, and will never be, a healthy mix. Decrease the opportunity for electrical shocks by not using curling irons, hair dryers, or shavers near water-filled sinks or tubs.

Bedroom:
Falls are also very common in bedrooms. De-clutter walkways, hide phone and electrical chords and soften the edges of furniture to reduce injuries. Increasing the amount of light that enters your room will also help.
Infants spend an abundant amount of time sleeping during the first year of life so it's important to childproof the bedroom. Baby beds should not have sharp edges, soft pillows, stuffed animals or bumper pads, and cribs should be certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. Prevent furniture from toppling onto climbing children by securing pieces to a wall.

Backyard:
Drowning is the second cause of unintentional death in children. And most of those deaths happen in swimming pools and open water. Reduce chances of children and pets drowning by surrounding your pool with a fence. Repairing broken suction entrapments and drain covers will stop deaths as well.
Lawnmowers are another potentially dangerous backyard item. Cuts to hands and feet and eye injuries can happen in a matter of seconds. Make it a habit to wear closed-toe shoes and pick up sticks, stones and toys before mowing. Also, don't take children for joyrides on ride mowers.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Safe Kids Campaign