Home Safety

Take Precautions to Avoid Home Fires

Every day, at least one child dies from a home fire and every hour approximately 14 children are injured from fires or burns. Ninety percent of all fire-related deaths are due to home fires, which spread rapidly and can leave families as little as two minutes to escape once an alarm sounds.

Home fires can start and spread quickly, which is why we all need to be careful and educated when it comes to fire safety. Just a little bit of planning can make a big difference for your family.

  • Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and in every sleeping area. Test them once a month.
  • Plan several ways to escape from each room if a fire starts. Practice the fire escape plan with your family. Identify a safe place to meet outside.
  • Lock up matches, lighters and gasoline.
  • Use battery-operated flame-less candles only.
  • Keep batteries out of the reach of children.
  • Keep space heaters where kids can’t reach them and away from curtains, beds and papers.
  • Never put electrical cords under rugs.

Click here to learn all you can do to prevent injury from fires.

Keep Kids Safe Around Guns

It is estimated that about one third of households with children ages 17 and under have a gun in the home. We need to take extra precautions when kids are in an environment where guns are present. Click here to learn everything you need to know about keeping kids safe around guns.

Poisoning Prevention

Every minute of every day, a poison control center answers a call about a young child getting into medicine. In three out of four of  these cases, the medicine belonged to a parent or grandparent. While most grandparents identified electrical outlets than medicine as a top safety issue, 36 percent more children go to the ER for medicine poisoning. For more information, click here.

POISON HELP NUMBER

1-800-222-1222

SAVE THIS NUMBER IN YOUR PHONE.

IT IS A FREE 24-HOUR HOTLINE.

Keep Kids Safe Around Heavy Furniture and TVs

It doesn’t take long for a curious toddler to climb onto a dresser drawer or a bookcase – sometimes with tragic consequences. Forty children are taken to the emergency room daily in the U.S. with injuries due to a heavy piece of furniture falling on them. Nearly half of these incidents are caused by televisions. And one child is killed every three weeks from being crushed under a television set, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Many of these injuries and deaths occur when children fall against an unstable piece of furniture or try to climb or pull themselves up onto furniture or TVs. Click here for everything you need to know to keep your kids safe from TV and furniture tip-overs.

Button Battery Poisoning

Inside small electronic devices may be very powerful coin-sized button batteries. When swallowed, these batteries can get stuck in the throat and cause severe burns or death. Each year, about 3,500 button battery swallowing cases are reported to U.S. poison control centers. Serious injuries and deaths are on the rise.

If a child swallows a button battery,  go to the emergency room right away. Do not let the child eat or drink and do not induce vomiting. To learn more and share with others, click here.

Keep Kids Safe from Falls

From the moment your baby starts to crawl, the world is a magical place filled with new adventures and discoveries. From a child’s perspective, everything is a potential mountain to climb (that giant bookshelf), obstacle to overcome (those pesky stairs) or mysterious place to investigate (anywhere beyond the safety gate). Little bumps will happen but take steps so these brave expeditions don’t result in something more serious. Click here to learn everything you need to know to keep your kids safe from falls.

Toy Safety

It is estimated that more than 181,000 children are treated in an emergency room for a toy-related injury every year. That’s 500 kids every day. Nearly half of those injured were children four and under.

Toys and games are tons of fun for kids and adults. Whether your kids are working on a puzzle, playing with building blocks or even inventing their own games, here are a few things to think about to help them stay safer and have a blast. Click here for everything you need to know to keep kids safe around toys.​