safe at home

Ask Americans where they feel safest and most will say their own home. However, unintentional
injuries in the home result in nearly 21 million medical visits each year.

Throughout June, the Home Safety Council encourages you to consider your home’s danger areas and take some simple steps to minimize their risk from potential injuries, or even death.

Prevent Falls
• Have grab bars in the tub and shower.
• Have bright lights over stairs and steps and on landings.
• Have handrails on both sides of the stairs and steps.
• Use a ladder for climbing instead of a stool or furniture.
• Use baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs for babies and toddlers

Prevent Poisonings
• Lock poisons, cleaners, medications, and all dangerous items in a place away from children.
• Keep all cleaners in their original containers. Do not mix them together.
• Use medications carefully. Follow the directions. Use child resistant lids.
• Install carbon monoxide detectors near sleeping areas.
• If someone takes poison, call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Prevent Fires & Burns
• Have working smoke alarms and hold fire drills. Install fire sprinklers in new homes
• Stay by the stove when cooking, especially when frying food.
• If you smoke, smoke outside. Use deep ashtrays and put water in them before you
empty them. Lock matches and lighters in a place where children can’t reach them.
• Only light candles when an adult is in the room. Blow the candle out if you leave the
room or go to sleep.

Prevent Choking and Suffocation
• Things that can fit through a toilet paper tube can cause a young child to choke. Keep
coins, latex balloons, and hard round foods such as peanuts and hard candy out of
children’s reach.
• Put children to bed on their backs. Don’t put pillows, comforters, or toys in the crib.
• Clip the loops in window cords and place them up high where children can’t get them.
• Read the labels on all toys, especially if they have small parts. Be sure that your child is
old enough to play with them.
• Tell children to sit down when they eat and to take small bites.

Be Smart Around Water
• Stay within an arm’s length of children in and around water. This includes bathtubs,
toilets, pools, and spas – even buckets of water.
• Put a fence all the way around your pool or spa.
• Empty large buckets and wading pools after using them. Keep upside down when
not in use.
• Make sure your children always swim with a grownup.
• Keep your hot water at or below 120 degrees F to prevent burns.

Visit www.homesafetycouncil.org for more information.