Preventing Accidents in the Home

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• Conduct routine safety checks in the home to prevent accidents e.g. make sure throw rugs are secure.
• Install child safety locks on cabinets if there are young children living in the home or visiting regularly.
• Keep medicines and potentially dangerous products out of reach of young children. Use child resistant caps, and never refer to medicine as candy.
• Keep all household products and cleaners in their original containers. If the labels become hard to read, re-label containers. Do not store cleaners in cups, soda bottles or any other containers which children associate with food.
• Pay attention to children while you're using electrical appliances, sharp objects, power tools, or chemicals.
• Never leave young children unsupervised near or in a bathtub, swimming pool, hot tub, or any other container with water.
• Clean up spills as soon as they occur.
• Turn pot handles away from the outside edge of a stove and never leave sharp items, e.g. knives, where children can reach them.
• Keep the Poison Control Center number handy, 1-800-222-1222
• Be aware of cleaners and potentially poisonous substances that look like food, e.g. pine sol and apple juice.