Protect your family from home accidents

When you think of a serious cause of death, you immediately think of car accidents or other things that happen when we’re out and about. But did you know that fatal accidents within the home are one of the leading causes of death in the United States? Initially, that thought is scary. Your home is a safe place, or at least, it’s supposed to be. The good news is that there are plenty of things that you can do to prevent accidents in your home and protect your family from home accidents with simple safety checks to your home and home appliances.

Falling

Falls make up a third of fatal in home accidents every year. Things as simple as tripping over objects or falling down the stairs can have a scary outcome. Keeping yourself safe from dangerous falls are as simple as eliminating obstacles and hazards that increase the risk of falling or tripping. These chances of falling increase in the evening, when it gets darker and therefore easier for you to fall over things that you can no longer see clearly. Before you head to bed, clear pathways and stairways to make sure there are no dangerous obstacles. This is also important if there’s an emergency like a fire or earthquake, so that you and yours have a clear path to the doors.

 

Poison

Poison is rarely intentional, and in most US cases occur in children under the age of 6. The easiest way to avoid the chances of poisoning in your home is to restrict access to medications and household chemicals, such as detergents and cleaners. Putting locks on any low cupboards, as well as putting as many of the chemicals as possible up high and out of reach. Make sure that you know the number to your local poison control, as well as having the number posted in an easily accessible place for your children and family members to refer to if necessary.

 

Fires

Not only do fires cause flame related deaths and serious burns, the inhalation of smoke is a leading cause of accidental deaths in the home. To avoid fires, make sure that you have any and all electrical equipment checked on a regular basis to make sure that there isn’t a fire hazard, as this is one of the more common causes of house fires. Never overload electrical circuits, and don’t leave your stove unattended. Make sure that your smoke detector is working and check it/change the batteries often to make sure that you’ll be alerted if there ever is a fire so you can react quickly to any dangerous situations. Keeping fire extinguishers in any high risk rooms of the home is also a good idea to make sure you can react quickly to any bad situations.

 

Suffocation, Choking, and Drowning

Choking and suffocation is most commonly a cause of death in the home among children. Not only is food given too young or in too big of bites a danger, but suffocation can happen much too easily with common household objects. To reduce the risk of suffocation, make sure any plastic bags are properly stored or thrown away and not left out to be accessed by young children. Make sure that small children are not left unattended on plush couches or with blankets and pillows that they can get tangled in and unable to escape.

 

It only takes a few inches of water to drown, so never leave a child unattended in a bath or pool. Adults should also be careful when getting in and out of tubs and showers.

 

Firearm deaths

Firearm deaths within homes are substantial, and tragic. Most estimates state that a child dies every week in the U.S. from an accidentally-shot firearm in the home. Firearm safety could prevent hundreds of firearm related deaths within homes every single year. One of the best ways to keep your family safe from death via firearm, is to keep a gun safe. A gun safe is a safe place to store your firearms to make sure that no one can get to them and be unsafe with them. Whenever a gun is removed from its safe, it should be kept on safety mode and only brought out for specific purposes and then immediately put away. Never leave a gun loaded, and never leave a gun (loaded or otherwise) lying around unattended.