When children are out of the home, it’s only natural parents worry about them getting injured. Whether it’s falling over in the playground, pulling a muscle in a soccer game or even something as common as sunburn on a hot day, there’s so much that could happen to our little ones. While you can’t rap them up in cotton wool, you can significantly reduce the risk of them getting hurt while they’re home with you. Here are some things you can change around the home to reduce the risk of illness or injury to your family.
Check your water
While it might seem like one of the gentlest things in your house, water can cause a lot of serious injuries and illnesses. If you have a leak, it can cause serious hazards like causing your floor to be slippery, blowing a fuse if water mixes with your electrics, or even making your ceiling fall down if there’s water dripping above it. It’s important to make sure you get any signs of a leak checked out as quickly as possible.
When it comes to the water out of your taps, it’s also important to make sure the hot water is coming out at the right temperature. You can find a simple guide on what temperature your hot water heater should be set to. If your tank is set too hot, it could cause serious burns to whosever hands are underneath when a tap is turned on. If it’s set too cold, you could find harmful bacteria begin to grow in your tank. Regularly check the temperature of your tank to avoid both of these problems.
Lock away harmful chemicals
We use chemicals all around the house to help keep our homes safe. Whether it’s bleach to clean the toilet, anti-bacterial spray to clean the sides or even washing up capsules to clean clothes, you can find chemicals in pretty much every room of the house. The only problem is if you can find them, so can the smallest members of your households. If they put these in their mouths or even spill some on their skin, it could cause serious injury. It’s important to keep these liquids either in a cupboard high up so that they can’t be reached, or locked away, or preferably both.
Look out for obvious hazards
One of the most common injuries that happen in the home are trips and falls. The best way to reduce the likelihood of these injuries is to reduce the number of things that can trip someone up.
Make sure any long cables are tidied away and not left lying around the house. Make sure rugs don’t slide across the floor by adding rubber mats underneath them. Avoid placing items too close to doorways that people might not see once entering the room. If you can’t remove the hazard, like a high step outside your front door, use bright paint or hazard tape to make the problem easy to spot.
