Check your water temperature. Water at 140° Fahrenheit can seriously burn an adult in just 5 seconds. It can burn a child even faster. Setting your water heater no higher than 120° can protect everyone in your home from burns, and you will still be able to take a hot shower.
Use a travel mug for hot drinks – even when at home. Spills from hot drinks can easily scald a child. Use a travel mug for all hot drinks, even when at home.
Review your Pinterest board. Pinterest: crafts, decorations, activities, recipes, and the motivation to do them, all in one place. So what's missing? An important safety check. Cutting your kid's hot dog to look like an octopus might be cute, but it's also a choking hazard for young children. Many do-it-yourself projects don't meet standards (cribs are a good example), and recalled products are often pinned with no information about the defect.
Pinterest is a fantastic source for both creative and practical inspiration, but review your boards for safety before putting those pins into action.
Want more info? See this blog from Nationwide Children's Hospital: https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2015/06/the-dangers-of-pinterest
Check for product recalls - including furniture, toys, and household items - regularly. Remove any recalled items from your home.
Designate a “no kids zone” around the stove. Kids can get in the action and help mark a 3-foot "No Kids Zone" with tape to help them be safer around the stove.
Mark a 3-Foot “No Kids Zone” around your grill. Despite constant reminders to slow down, kids will always be running across the deck or patio to the backyard to play. A trip and fall around a hot grill could mean major burns for your little one, so take a few minutes to mark a 3-foot "No Kids Zone" around your grill with tape, paint, or chalk. Ask everyone to help enforce the 3-foot rule to keep kids (and pets) safe around the grill. See an example of a "No Kids Zone" here: www.safekidsoregon.org/category/fire-and-burns-prevention/
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/grilling_fire_safety_flyer.pdf
Download the Make Safe Happen App. The Make Safe Happen app helps you take action in your home room-by-room. Enter the ages of your children, and learn how to protect them in the kitchen, in the bedroom and other places. The app also recommends safety products, lets you set reminders (like when to change you smoke alarm batteries), and tracks your progress in making your house safe. The app was created by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, so you know it's good advice from experts. Learn more and download it here. Ask other members of your team to download it too. makesafehappen.com/get-the-app
Map the smoke alarms in your home. This could take some time, so it will be our primary action for the next two weeks. It is important to know where your smoke detectors are. But based on what you learn about your smoke detectors, you may need to make changes in your home as well. The National Fire Protection Association says alarms should be inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement. The association also says you need two kinds of smoke detectors. Photoelectric smoke alarms are best at detecting smoldering fires, like ones started by lit cigarettes. Ionization alarms do better with flaming fires, like kitchen grease fires. And smoke detectors need to be replaced at least every 10 years. So spend the next couple of weeks on these steps: https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/Public-Education/Resources/Safety-tip-sheets/SmokeAlarms.ashx
Draw an outline of your home.
Go room by room, marking the location of your smoke detectors, the types of smoke detectors you have (photoelectric or ionization), and their expiration dates.
Do you need more smoke detectors, or new ones, or different kinds? Make plans to get what you need.
If you buy new smoke detectors, install them with these guidelines from the National Fire Protection Association: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Installing-and-maintaining-smoke-alarms
For more information on smoke detectors, check out this video from the NFPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LQ6uhXAzvk
Take the Lock Your Meds Pledge. Most parents of young children know to keep medications up, away, and out of sight, but what about the parents of teenagers? In some cases, teens aren’t looking to drugs like marijuana to get high—they’re looking in their parents’ or grandparents’ medicine cabinet. Research shows that the number of teens who abuse prescription medication continues to rise. Take the Lock Your Meds® Pledge and secure the medications in your home.
Teach your kids emergency info with Sesame Street’s Let’s Get Ready app. During an emergency, kids often get confused and scared. Sesame Street’s Let’s Get Ready app will help you show your kids how to handle an emergency. From learning full names to creating an emergency kit for the whole family, the app offers plenty of fun and age-appropriate tasks to get your family ready for the unexpected. https://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/ready/#7
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lets-get-ready/id903134141?ls=1
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.sesameworkshop.PSEG.GetReady
Store laundry detergent packets up, away, and out of sight. Single-load laundry detergent packets may seem like a quick, easy way to simplify a daily task, but if you have young children, it's important to store the detergent the same way you would other poisons: up, away, and out of sight. Since laundry detergent packets were introduced to U.S. markets in 2012, calls to poison control centers about the packets have skyrocketed. As the video below shows, many factors are leading to this increase, but the bottom line remains the same: Store liquid laundry packets up, away, and out of sight. https://aapcc.org/track/laundry-detergent-packets
Install a working smoke detector in every bedroom. It's simple: smoke detectors save lives. You probably have one installed near your stove and maybe in the hallway. But did you know you also should have a smoke detector in each bedroom or sleeping area? Having enough smoke detectors will give your family the best chance to get out of the house safely. Learn more: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Safety-messages-about-smoke-alarms
Complete a household safety checklist. Create a safety checklist. Examples can be found at KidsHealth. Are refrigerator magnets out of reach? Are stickers on your clear glass doors so a child can tell when they’re closed?
Some household dangers are pretty clear, but you have to make a special effort to notice others. These lists highlight some of the problems you may not think about. How safe is your house? Find out today: kidshealth.org/en/parents/household-checklist.html
Do recon in your home for poisons. You know that weed killers and those little pellets for mice are poisonous, right? But household cleaners, laundry detergents, fertilizers, medicines, makeup, perfume, and even some household plants can hurt your children, too. Any substance that can harm a person if used in the wrong way is a poison. Remember, keep all possible poisons up, away, and out of sight, preferably in a locked cabinet. https://poisoncontrol.utah.edu/publiced/pdfs/NPPW%20Poison%20Prevention%20Tips_1.pdf
Play home designer: move your furniture away from your windows. Have you always meant to give the rooms in your home a fresh look? Well, there’s a serious reason to move your furniture around -- about 14 children per day go to a hospital emergency department after falling out of a window. Many of those children are able to reach windows by climbing on furniture.
Practice your home fire escape plan. If you don't have an escape plan, make one. Download this worksheet to get you started. If you have a plan in place, when is the last time you practiced it? Make sure to practice at least 2 times a year, once at night and once during the day. www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/escape_grid.pdf
Did you know that if a fire starts, you could have as little as 2 minutes before smoke and flames fill your home and make it impossible to get out? Don't think this could happen to you? A building fire happens almost every minute of every day. Having and practicing a fire escape plan will help you and your family get to safety quickly. Visit the National Fire Protection Association website for tips on what to include in your plan: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Preparedness/Escape-planning
Post a list of emergency numbers at your home. During the holiday season, your routines change and different people visit your home. That can raise the risk of injury. A very visible list of important numbers – posted near a phone or on the fridge – can save valuable time if an injury happens.
Start with your own cell phone number, your pediatrician’s office, nearby family members and friends, and the poison control hotline (it’s the same everywhere: 1-800-222-1222). Save the numbers to your own cell phone, and ask anyone who is a caregiver for your children to do the same.
Beware of button batteries before you buy. Button batteries look like coins (or candy) and power many toys and electronic devices. They are also very easy for children to swallow. Buy toys and devices with safety latches on battery compartments or other child-resistant features.
The batteries can become lodged in throats and intestines and release harmful chemicals. Learn more about button battery safety here:
