Sometimes it can be hard to know what to do about safety in our homes. Before the internet we depended on public safety campaigns, local first responders, and printed materials to tell us the best ways to avoid injuries in our home. Now we have so much information available that very few sources agree on anything! Using some common sense and projecting possible scenarios can help protect us and our loved ones around the house.

Pros and Cons of Area Rugs

Most manufacturers of laminate, tile, and hardwood flooring recommend that you place area rugs in high traffic areas so your flooring will look nice longer. You should make that decision after considering who lives in your home. Do you have toddlers or elderly family members who trip easily? Do you have older children who run in the house and might fall over a rug?

Using area rugs can actually harm your flooring if you don’t get the right kind. There should be a carpet pad between the floor and the rug, the kind that is honeycombed or corrugated so that air can circulate. Otherwise the rubber might break down eventually and discolor the floor. Such a pad also prevents the rug from slipping underfoot and saves many painful falls.

Can you live with the wear in high traffic areas of your flooring? Or are you willing to take a chance and protect the floor with throw rugs or runners?

Proper Lighting Prevents Injuries

I don’t know anyone that doesn’t get up at least once during the night. Parents are awakened by children, nearly everyone gets up for the bathroom at least once, or maybe you just can’t sleep and want a cup of herbal tea. No matter how well you know your home it’s easy to bump into furniture or trip over something. If your home has stairs the dangers are increased.

Nightlights aren’t only for children! There are many attractive nightlights on the market today along with discreet lighting that you won’t notice until it’s dark. Since LED lights were introduced their price has gone way down and it’s now economical to have LED nightlights on all night. Putting at least one LED nightlight in each room close to where a person would walk at night greatly decreases the chance of injury. They are bright enough to illuminate things left on the floor and you can also see area rugs or other objects in your path.

Nightlights can prevent a lot of injuries and they are practically free to use if you go with LEDs.

Children—Faster than the Speed of Light!

I had forgotten how fast children can be until I turned my back to get a towel. Two seconds later I turned around to see that my two year old granddaughter was standing on the bathroom vanity opening the medicine cabinet! Children can climb like monkeys, they have no fear, and they are curious about everything—especially those things that we tell them not to touch.

Luckily, I don’t keep anything that can harm anyone in my bathroom. My medications and over the counter remedies are kept high on a closet shelf; I take them morning and evening so it’s convenient when I dress and undress. I pay a little more to buy natural personal care products that can’t harm children or pets and I have a lock on toilet lid to prevent a curious toddler from drowning. There are many precautions you can take to protect children and pets from bathroom injuries and poisonings.

The kitchen is another matter. With today’s open floor plans the kitchen is easy for everyone to access, which is great unless you have a young child in the house. Be careful to use the back burners of the stove; turn pot and pan handles towards the back of the stove so that little hands can’t reach them and pull them down. Have a box of baking soda at hand at all times in case something catches fire on the stove or in the oven. Many people don’t know that water usually spread the flames of a kitchen fire rather than extinguishing them.

There are a lot of good, inexpensive locking devices that you can easily find at most stores that will help keep a child out of the oven, away from stove controls, and out of cupboards, drawers, and the refrigerators. You can’t really know the feeling of wanting to cry and laugh at the same time until you come across a child delightedly throwing raw eggs on the kitchen floor!

An Ounce of Prevention

If you have children or grandchildren it’s so very important to make sure they can’t harm themselves with everyday items. Take a look around your home and try to imagine all the ways you could hurt yourself with everything in your house if you were a two year old or an elderly relative. Take steps to prevent those actions. Life is so much happier without trips to the emergency room!