High Risk Areas for Household Hazards

Childproofing your home is a daunting task for any parent. Curious kids exploring their new world, are prone to accidents. Watching them every second of every day is simply not possible, but you can still do what you can to make your home as safe as possible.

Let’s look at some of the highest risk areas of your home and what you can do.

The Hard Truth About Suffocation

For children younger than 4 years of age, suffocation is the leading cause of death. According to Injury Fact published by the National Safety Council, in the United States, 1,124 kids died in 2017 due to suffocation resulting from mechanical suffocating and choking.

Infant children are at a higher risk to suffocate in unsafe sleeping environments than by any other means such as choking on food or foreign objects. The safest place for an infant to sleep is in a crib – not with their parents or in the same bed with anyone else. They should also not sleep with stuffed animals and blankets as these increase their risk for suffocation.

Highest Risk Areas of Your Home

According to the National Safety Council, the most incidents of injury and deaths of children take place in certain areas of the home. Pay close attention to these areas of your home and make sure they are child-proofed and that your child does not have access to them if at all possible.

Anywhere water is found, so is a danger. This includes your bathroom, kitchen, swimming pools, and hot tubs. The same goes for anywhere heat or flames are present such as your kitchen, fireplace, outdoor firepits, or barbeque grills.

Where you store any toxic substances, or medications also presents a risk to children. Whether they are in your purse, under the sink, in a medicine cabinet, garage, or storage shed. These areas should be secured at all times to prevent accidental poisoning. Keep batteries out of reach of children, especially coin lithium batteries as they can be fatal if swallowed.

Read our article, Top Safety Products for the Most Curious Children and Babies to find out how to childproof your home and what products to invest in that could save your child’s life.