Poison Prevention in Your Home
Children are known for playing with and around items around your home that can pose a dangerous threat to their lives. However, there are little things we can do in our day to day lives that can ensure that children avoid serious injuries. While it is important to encourage our children to explore and discover new things, when it comes to poisonous materials in our homes, we want to keep them safe. Here are a few tips to show you how.
The Hard Facts
Half of the 2 million calls to Poison Help Number in 2011 involved children ages 5 and under. In fact, 9 out of 10 poisonings occur at home.
Medications are the leading cause of child poisoning. In 2011, 67,700 children were seen in emergency room for medicine poisoning. That’s one child every eight minutes. Almost all of these visits are because the child got into medicines during a moment alone.
Top Tips
- Store all household products and cleaning solutions out of children’s sight and reach. Young kids are often eye-level with items under the kitchen and bathroom sinks.
- Store poisonous items out of reach or use safety locks on cabinets within reach. These items also include liquid packets for the laundry and dishwasher. It only takes a few minutes, and it gives you one less thing to worry about.
- Read product labels to find out what can be hazardous to kids. Dangerous household items include makeup, personal care products, plants, pesticides, lead, art supplies, alcohol and carbon monoxide.
- Make sure that all medications, including vitamins and adult medicines, are stored out of reach and out of sight or children.
- Put the toll-free number Poison Help Number (1-800-222-1222) into your home and cell phones.
For more information visit www.safekids.org.
