Injury Prevention Topics of Interest
Home Safety & Injury Prevention

Parent's Safety Checklist

• Install working smoke detectors on each floor and in the basement.
• Install cabron monoxide detectors with audible alarms near sleeping areas.
• Check furnaces and fireplace flues with each seasonal change.
• Place fire extinguishers in all areas with open flames.
• Set the temperature of your hot water heater at 120 degrees or lower. Check with your management if you have no control.
• When cooking, keep handles on cookware turned inward.
• If you use a space heater, make sure it is unobstructed, and not used in the bedroom or nursery.
• Keep matches and lighters out of reach of children.
• Store household cleaners only in the original containers and out of reach of children.
• Use cabinet latches.
• Store chemicals our of reach of children.
• Many plants are toxic. Check with local poison control.
• Install child-proof latches on cabinets.
• Equip windows with stops to maintain small openings.
• No window opening should be wider than four inches.
• Make sure all rugs are slip proof.
• Do not use infant walkers with wheels. Think bouncers!
• Keep cribs and beds of small children away from windows.
• Cribs should have bars no more than 2-3/8 inches apart so that children should not be able to entrap their heads.
• Crib mattresses should be firm and snug fitting.
• Do not leave small children unattended in a tub or near any body of water.
• Make sure someone in your home knows C.P.R.
• Choose toy chests carefully. Heavy lids can fall and injure or trap a child.
• Keep hair dryer, curling irons and other electric appliances away from sinks, bathtubs and toilets.
• Use covers for electrical plugs less than three feet from the floor.
• Keep curling irons out of reach of small children.
• Keep power tools, yard tools and lawn mowers out of reach of small children.
• Automatic garage doors should have a mechanism to automatically re-open when striking an obstruction.
• Do not use latex balloons around small children.

Home Safety & Injury Prevention Links

Did you know?

Children living in poverty have a higher rate of injury than children of more substantial means, (Durkin 1994).

Hospital charges alone for an ATV trauma patient range from $5,500 - $299,289, with an average of $27,400.

The CPSC estimates that ATVs result in more than 100,000 ER visits annually, including more than 30,000 injuries for children under 16 years.