Basic home safety is not expensive to achieve and must be considered if you have children or even have them to visit. If you about to become a parent, or have a couple of little ones running around, the issue of home safety cannot be far from your mind. Anything can happen when you are inattentive for even a minute so frequent reminders of basic safety issues are definitely in your, and your children’s, best interest.

Make sure you have at least one working smoke alarm!! You only need to watch the news regularly to know why this is a necessity.

Consider getting a fire extinguisher if you do not have one already.

Get your fuse box checked to see if it has a safety switch that will automatically turn the power off if anyone is getting an electric shock.

Get some plastic power point covers. They are cheap to buy, and hopefully not easy for the child to remove.

Make sure all cupboards with ANYTHING remotely dangerous in them are securely locked. It is pretty cheap to buy basic latches.

Absolutely keep medicines and poisons up very high and inaccessible to a tall child.

Be wary of small items lying around your house including coins, dry pasta, anything smaller than a film canister can be choked on. This is especially important when children are crawling.

Look out for sharp corners on furniture. Some folded cloth and good tape are a quick way to buffer these items.

The hot water temperature should be set at an appropriate temperature so as to not burn children too quickly. Check the temperature recommendations for your area.

Put stickers on or replace non-safety glass doors etc.

Make sure all pools are fenced properly and NEVER take your eye off your children, this is the same for any accessible source of water, large or small.

Make sure you know exactly where your children are when a car is baking out of the driveway, or there is a possibility of a car arriving. Too many children die or are injured in their own driveway.

A few easy and inexpensive adjustments to your home could save the life of your child.

Jason Ladock

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