Making home safe for kids

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Your previously adult-friendly world has lots of potential hazards for a child. You can keep your child safe by finding out what the risks are so that you can prevent or remove them.

Baby-proofing and child-proofing conjure up the idea of a place where baby and child can never be hurt. The reality is that children can still have tumbles and falls. The key is supervision as well as a safe environment. Your child will be safest if you accept that child-proofing is always a work in progress: as your child grows and learns to climb and open things, look for any new hazards that are suddenly within reach.

If you need to, change the environment to make sure home is still a safe and creative place to play and explore. Also think about the environment when you're out and about in the car, walking around, or with a pram or stroller.

Along with these practical tips for providing a safe environment for babies and children, teach your child about what is safe and what is not.

General house tips

• For overall house safety install a smoke detector; lower the hot-water thermostat to 50°C; and install a safety switch or a mains-operated circuit breaker.
• Replace electrical appliances and cords if they are worn, and look for appliances with short cords so babies and toddlers are less likely to swing, pull and trip on cords.
• Chains and springs should be covered with a sheath to protect small fingers. Chains should be shorter than 5 cm; that is, not long enough to wrap around your baby's neck.
• Low-power night-lights and an efficient torch make looking after your baby at night safer. A hall light left on at night makes it easier for older children to get to the toilet without tripping.
• Heaters and fires are safer with fireguard screens and fixed to the wall.
• Swimming pools and outdoor spas must have a fence and self-locking gate that meet the requirements of Standards Australia.
• Install safety guards across entries to balconies, and always supervise small children on balconies even if you have guards. Look for balcony guardrails without horizontal bars or footholds a child could use to climb on. Narrow vertical bars or flat solid walls are best.
• Lock windows, particularly upper-storey windows, or shield them with firmly attached screens, so small children can’t fall out. Move chairs and pot plants away from them.
• Lock away hand tools such as saws and drills, and keep lawnmowers, chainsaws and other sharp tools out of reach. When using tools, make sure children are out of the way. Unplug tools whenever you take a break.
• Pin up emergency numbers and other useful safety contacts near the phone (see our table of emergency numbers below).
• Get a basic first-aid kit for any mishaps that do occur.

In the kitchen

• Turn saucepan handles towards the back of the stove when cooking.
• Replace tablecloths with place mats – they're harder to pull off the table – or put plates straight on the table.
• Put sharp things, including knives, scissors and graters, in a drawer with a childproof lock or out of reach up high or at the back of a bench.
• Store food processors and blenders out of reach when not in use. If they must stay on the bench, unplug them and turn switches off at the wall.

Baby furniture and equipment

Follow the ‘when eyes are off – hands on’ safety rule. That is, make sure your baby’s nappy and clothes changing area has everything you need within reach, without you having to leave him for a moment. If you have to turn away, hang on to your baby with one hand.

Choose baby equipment and nursery furniture with care. The Australian Consumers’ Association magazine CHOICE publishes The CHOICE Guide to Baby Products, a useful book, every year.

Look for equipment that has the Australian Standards mark, which shows the product conforms to strict standards. 

In the bathroom and laundry

• Mark hot and cold taps accurately and clearly, and consider installing safety taps that young children can’t turn on.
• Work out a safe place for nappy buckets where a child can't climb into or fall into them. Always put the lids on.
• Keep cleaning products and chemicals up high.
• Install a child-resistant cabinet for medicines, aerosols, hair products, razors and poisons. If you can't, use a child-safety latch on the door, and try to store things out of reach.
• Put a child-resistant lock on the laundry door.
• Lower the temperature of your hot-water system.

Living areas and bedrooms

• Attach bookcases and closets to the wall. If that's not possible, use the lower shelves to store children’s things so kids can reach easily. Teach children not to climb shelves.
• A child-resistant lock or handle on the door of the baby's room prevents small children making unsupervised visits.
• Lay anti-skid mats under rugs, or roll any floor coverings away.
• Install safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs.
• Use plastic socket covers in empty electrical sockets.
• Move furniture with sharp corners – coffee tables, chairs, TV units – out of hallways, and away from doorways and other places where children run about. Pad corners with foam or cushioning.
• Slippery floors and shiny surfaces are dangerous, especially if you are carrying your baby, so avoid loose floor coverings.
• Wipe up spills on the floor as soon as possible.
• Furniture and fabrics should be made of low-flammability materials.
• Any folding furniture should have a locking device so it will not collapse when used. Make sure wooden or metal furniture has strong joints.

Glass

• Give children drinks in plastic cups or shatterproof glasses.
• Put stickers across expanses of glass at the height of your child's face so that he doesn't walk or run through the glass.
• Install safety glass, particularly in floor-to-ceiling windows in family rooms and extensions (Australian and New Zealand standard AS/NZS 2208:1996), or cover glass with sticky plastic film so it doesn't shatter when broken. Over the last fifteen years, most states have made it compulsory to install safety glass in new doors and side panels.
• Because there is no Australian safety standard for glass used in furniture, keep furniture with glass in child-free areas until they're old enough to follow safety rules, or avoid using furniture with glass.
• Carefully sweep up broken glass immediately. If glass breaks near your child when he is not wearing shoes, lift him out of the area.

Emergency numbers

Make a list of emergency numbers to keep near the telephone. Below are some suggestions for numbers to include. You can find the others in your local phone book.

Other useful community safety contacts

• NSW Road Traffic Authority on 1800 042 865
• Australian Consumers’ Association CHOICE magazine
• NSW Office of Fair Trading
• Child Safety Centres/Child Health Promotion Units (in the capital city of each state and territory, usually at a major children’s hospital). These centres are staffed by experts who provide information and education for parents and health workers on all aspects of child safety.

Updating your CPR skills

You never know when you may need to resuscitate someone in need. Courses in heart and lung resuscitation are available in your state from the Royal Life Saving Society, the Red Cross and St John Ambulance.

Single-page charts of basic resuscitation techniques are available from children’s hospitals in all states. You can pin one up somewhere visible, including on a pool fence if you have a swimming pool, so you have a constant reminder of what to do.

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