Next to motor vehicle accidents, home accidents are responsible for more fatal injuries than any other cause amounting to 18,000 deaths and 13 million injuries each year. The five leading causes of death from home accidents are falls, poisonings, fires, suffocation and choking and drowning.

In support of National Home Safety Month, we’ve listed some of the top tips to help prevent the “fatal five.”

Falls

• Eliminate tripping hazards such as electrical cords toys, shoes, and other items on walkways and stairways. Clean up spills immediately.
• Have handrails on both sides of stairs and steps and make sure handrails extend from the top to the bottom of the stairs. (This includes outdoor stairs and steps.) If you have small children, install baby gates at the top and bottom of stairs.
• Have night-lights along stairways and hallways and in bedrooms, bathrooms, and other dark areas. Put bright lights over outdoor porches and walkways.
• Have grab bars and a non-skid mat or strips in your bathtubs and showers. Use bath rugs with non-skid backing.
• Purchase a sturdy stepstool with a handrail so you can reach safely. Be sure to follow ladder safety rules, which include proper angles and set-up on solid and level ground.
• Have window guards on upstairs windows to help prevent a child from falling out the window.

Poisonings

• Keep harmful household chemicals in an out-of-reach, locked cabinet.
• Never leave children alone with household products or medications. Most poisonings occur when the product is in use.
• Keep household medicines and poisonous products in their original, labeled, child-resistant containers.
• Install carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.
• Keep the number of your local poison control center near your phone, or program it into your speed dial. The national poison control center number is 1-800-222-1222.

Fires

• Install smoke alarms in the hallway, bedrooms, and on each level of your home. Test units regularly and replace units older than 10 years with new ones. Keep at least 1 fire extinguisher in your home at all times.
• Don’t leave burning cigarettes or candles unattended, and put them out completely.
• Stay in the kitchen while food is cooking on the stove and keep flammable objects at least three feet from the burners.
• Keep curtains, furniture, and bedding away from heaters.
• Set your water heater no higher than 120 degrees F.
• Don’t overload electric outlets. Have an electrician examine frayed, worn, or suspect wiring.
• Develop a plan with your family that includes 2 escape routes from every room and establishes a safe meeting spot.

Suffocation and Choking

• Place babies to sleep on their backs, alone in their crib. Don’t put pillows, blankets, comforters or toys in cribs. These things can sometimes keep a baby from breathing.
• Keep plastic bags out of children’s reach, and tie bags in a knot before disposing.
• Things that can fit through a toilet paper tube can cause a young child to choke. Keep coins, latex balloons and hard round foods, such as peanuts and hard candy where children cannot see or touch them.
• Cut children’s food into small pieces, and be sure to chew your own food thoroughly.
• Keep your eye on infants around strangulation risks such as window blind cords, long telephone cords, drawstrings, necklaces, and headbands.

Drowning

• When your children are in or near water, watch them very carefully. Stay close enough to reach out and touch them. This includes bathtubs, toilets, pools and spas – even buckets of water. Never leave an infant unattended in the bathtub.
• Install self-closing and self-latching gates and doors leading to the pool or spa. Latches should be above a child's reach, and gates should open outward.
• Obtain cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification for infants and children and be sure your baby-sitter understands water safety measures. Train them in CPR.

For more tips and information on home safety, visit the Home Safety Council website. There you can create a personalized safety checklist based on your answers to questions about your type of home and family members, (i.e. infants, small children or adults over 65).

Sources:

Home Safety Council