How to Childproof Your Home

Suggested Safety Materials

• Child Safety Latches & Locks
  
• Child Safety Door Knobs & Locks
  
• Safety Gates
  
• Safety Outlet Protectors
  
• Blind Cord Windups & Safety Tassels
  
• Carbon Monoxide Alarms
• Smoke Alarms
  
• Corner Cushions & Edge Guards
  
• Stove Guards & Knob Covers
  
• Toilet Cover Locks
  
• Anti-Scald Devices
  
  

General Home Safety:

• Make sure all exposed outlets are coverd with safety covers.
• Keep child gates up so that your child can’t travel into another room unsupervised.
• Keep chemicals and toxins out of your child’s reach.
• Install corner bumpers and edge guards on hard or sharp surfaces.
• Remove and minimize the use of extension cords or home electrial items with cords. A Cord Shortener can be installed to keep dangling cords out of the way.
• Install Carbon Monoxide and Fire Detectors through out your home.
• Child proof windows and doors.
• Make sure all small objects are out of your child’s reach as they are a choking hazard.

The Nursery:

• Make sure that the babys crib mattress is firm and flat. There should be no soft bedding underneath him or her.
• Any and all bedding should be secure. Bumpers should be tightly attached and blankets removed from the bed. Do not place stuffed animals or pillows in an infants crib, creates a suffocation hazard.
• Check that the mattress cover and sheet fit snuggly and there is no risk of them becoming loose. This could be a suffocation hazard.
• The mattress should be at a level that the child can not fall out of the crib if they can sit or stand.
• Move the crib on a solid wall away from any windows. Curtains and blinds can be suffocation and strangulation hazards
• Check over the crib. Make sure the slats are less than 2 3/8” apart and any cut outs are very small. A baby can put its head through openings any larger which can cause serious injury.
• Scan room to make sure there are no sharp objects or dangerous toys that your child could reach.
• Make sure to secure any furniture in all rooms from toppling. This could cause great injury to a small child.
• Add night lights for your child’s own sense of security.

The Bathroom:

• To prevent any accidental poisioning, move all medications and cleaning products to locked cabinets. Install saftey locks on undersink cabinets and medicine cabinets.
• Make sure that the toilet lid stays down when not in use. It takes just one inche of water to drown a child. Install toilet lid locks to ensure that your little one can not get in to explore.
• Consider installing an anti-scald device in your tub and shower head. A childs skin is much more senstive than an adults and can be injured much easier. Also, turn your water temperature on the furnace down to 120O Fahrenheit. It takes just a few minutes for a child to sustain a serious burn from water just a little hotter than this.
• Never leave your child unattended in or around water.
• Install a non-skid surface in the tub bottom to prevent slipping.
• Make sure that all electric devices such as hair dryers, curling irons, etc are unplugged and out of your child’s reach when not in use. Make sure that your bathroom outlets are GFCI rated to prevent accidental shock.
• Cover all outlets with Safety Outlet Covers when not inuse to prevent electrocution. Curious children may try to stick a finger or an object in an uncovered outlet. *It is important to cover all household outlets with safety covers in all rooms througout the house.
• Make sure there are no sharp objects such as razors in your child’s reach.

The Kitchen:

• Install Child Safety Latches on all cabinets and drawers with in your child’s reach. This prevents them from accessing harmfull object’s and chemicals.
• Keep all heavy, breakable and chemical items out of reach. Household soaps, detergents and other chemicals are poisioning hazards. Breakable and heavy items can cause serious injury.
• Use the back burners on your stove to cook to make it more difficult for your child to touch a hot burner or grabing a pot. Install a Stove Guard. This helps protect children from touching hot burners or grabing pots and pans.
• Install protective Stove Knob Covers. This will not allow your child to accidentally turn on a burner.
• Do not store stools need counter tops or your stove.
• Keep all appliances unplugged when not inuse. Cover exposed outlets with safety covers. Keep cords out of reach to the child cannot pull an appliace of the counter onto themselves. Install appliances latches to airtight appliances so your child can not open them and get themselves locked inside.
• Make sure the garbage can has a lid on it and it’s securely fastened.

Garage and Yard Safety:

It is also important to childproof your garage and yard. During the warmer months your child may be playing outside and the outdoor hazards must be tended to.

• Store all lawn, garden, atomotive and any other chemicals in a locked cabinet or shed. These are all serious poision hazards. • Store lawn equipment and tools out of reach.
• Make sure your garage door reverses itself if it senses an object in its path.
• Keep all fences and gates locked so your child doesn’t wander out of the yard or into a pool/spa area.
• Make sure your outdoor BBQ and cooking equipment is safely stored and out of your child’s way.
• Make sure there are no foreing objects such as glass, small rocks , etc that a child could injur themselves on in the yard.

**Remember these are just precautions to take. No plan is fool proof and none of these steps take the place of adult supervision. Keep an eye on your children at all times and you will avoid potential dangerous situations.

DISCLAIMER: Check your state and local codes before starting any project. Follow all safety precautions. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and safety of the information in this document. Neither NRHA, any contributor nor Aubuchon Hardware can be held responsible for damages or injuries resulting from the use of the information in this document.

Aubuchon Hardware

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