Every year over 18,000 Americans die from home accidents, making it the second most common location for such fatalities. Besides, an average of 21 million people pays a visit to the doctors as a result of injuries arising from home accidents.
Now, I’m sure you don’t want to be included in those unfortunate stats, or do you?
But one may ask…why is the rate of home accidents so high?
Sadly, a lot of those injuries and deaths are preventable, yet they are owed to bring sorrows to families and cause financial losses where they should not in the first place. Domestic accidents do not just happen; they are caused.
Good enough, there are a lot of things you can do to prevent accidents at home.
This post sh treat those causes of accidents at home and how they can be prevented. We, therefore, implore you to pay attention to the end of this piece as the tips we have here will not only save you from bodily harms but also enable you to avoid financial losses.
How Can We Prevent Home Accidents?
Having seen the statistics on home accidents, we need to look at how these accidents can rey be prevented:
Electrical Accidents
1. Check electrical wiring:
Wrong electrical wiring can be a source of electrical injury, electrocution or fire outbreak. Sometimes, homes could be rightly wired from the outset, but the situations deteriorate with time and cause problems. Newer homes are also not left out of electrical risks too.
- Have a professional inspect your home if the outlets are not functioning properly or if the lights flicker
- Get a licensed electrician to properly inspect your home if the home’s wiring has never been inspected
- Be sure that you turn off the circuit on your breaker panel if you decide to check the wiring yourself (we do not advise you to do it if you are not a licensed electrician)
2. Avoid overloading sockets:
Don’t plug too many appliances into the same socket especially if you live in an old house as many of those old homes are not equipped with the systems needed to take care of modern power demands.
- There should be an outlet for every large appliance in the home such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers.
- Do not plug more than one appliance into the same outlet at a time. Do not also use extension cords to plug multiple devices into an outlet.
- Every socket that is not in use should be covered with a socket plug. It helps to prevent children from touching open sockets and getting electrocuted.
- If you notice any smell or unusual sound coming from the outlet, get a professional to check it.
- Keep your electronics away from water. Electronics and water don’t mix; they can easily cause accidents.
Kitchen Accidents
3. Don’t leave pans or pots unattended:
Kitchen fires can easily start from greases from your pans when frying fat. You should not leave your pans or pots unattended to – so that they don’t set your kitchen on fire.
- Turn off your stove and remove the pans and pots if you must leave the kitchen while you are cooking or frying.
- Put off your microwave and unplug it after use. Never leave your microwave on while leaving the home
- Keep an eye on your children while cooking in the kitchen.
4. Turn handles in when cooking:
Pot handles that are not turned in toward the back of the stove while you are cooking could be a source of burns injury to anybody – both adults and children.
- Pots and pans without plastic guards should be handled with care
- Pots with plastic handles should not be placed over another hot burner
5. Monitor children around hot objects:
Hot objects can easily cause body harms to children. They should, therefore, be monitored when around hot objects like soup, hot stove, hot coffee pot or a pot of boiling water. If it is possible, set a boundary for the kids and make sure they don’t exceed the boundary of the hot zone.
- Children should not be owed to carry hot objects.
- Make sure they don’t play with pans and pots that are not in use. It makes it easier for them not to lift hot pots or pans mistakenly which will eventuy injure them.
6. Keep knives out of reach:
Knives should be well secured and kept out of the children’s reach whether or not they are in use. Place them on flat surfaces that are free from clutter, where they won’t f off accidenty.
- Don’t keep dirty knives in the sink. Instead, they should be washed immediately after each use.
- Store knives blade down, in a container that is speciy chosen for it. They should not be kept where children can easily reach them.
- Do not carry knives when the kitchen is rowdy
- The cutting edge must be angled away from your body when you are carrying knives.
7. Inst smoke alarms:
Insting and maintaining smoke alarms is one good way to prevent fire accidents at home.
- Inst smoke alarms in your bedrooms and other rooms in your home
- Replace the batteries in your smoke alarms regularly. You can change them whenever you change the batteries of your alarm clock
- Make sure your alarms are tested every month or bimonthly
- Replace your alarms every ten years
- Smoke alarms should not be altered. They should also not be painted so that they can easily be noticed.
8. Have a fire extinguisher handy:
Place a fire extinguisher on every level of your home. They help to save lives and also minimize damage to property. They should be placed on escape routes where they are easy to locate when there is fire.
- Fire extinguishers should be kept where every member of the family would be able to reach them. They should not be moved for any reason.
- Keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and it shouldn’t be more than 30 feet away from the stove.
- Only use the fire extinguisher to try and fight sm fires. Avoid fires that have spread to a very large portion of your home
- Read and understand the instructions on the extinguisher. Make sure every member of your family also knows the operational instructions
- Whenever you want to operate the fire extinguisher, remember the acronym “PASS” which stands for (Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep).
- Pull the safety pin. With the nozzle pointed away from your body, hold the extinguisher and release the locking mechanism
- Aim low: Point the mouth of the nozzle to the base of the fire
- Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly
- Sweep the nozzle from side-to-side, making sure it remains aimed at the base of the fire.
Drug Accidents
9. Inst safety locks where medicines are kept:
You should have a place for keeping drugs and ensure they are locked to prevent children accidenty poisoning themselves.
- Keep medicines in the safe storage after use
- Drugs brought into the house by visitors should be stored in a cabinet mounted in the guest bathroom
- Children should be prevented from playing with medicine bottles
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
10. Inst carbon monoxide detectors:
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Carbon monoxide is one of those dangerous gasses that can easily wipe out an entire family in a matter of minutes. That is why this colorless, odorless gas is referred to as an invisible killer. It is, therefore, important to inst a carbon monoxide detector in your home.
- Inspect your carbon monoxide detectors regularly
- Should you hear any signal on the detector, first take a look at the batteries. If the batteries are still viable, contact the fire department immediately
- Stay outside why you wait for the fire department’s arrival
- Your generating plants or any other machine that emits carbon monoxide should not be kept close to your rooms. Keep them in a sm house far away from your windows and rooms.
Conclusion
Home accidents are preventable and must not be owed to deform your family or cause you financial losses. The 10 tips and tricks we have listed above are tested to work fine and they will help you to prevent injuries in your home.
Just follow the advice, and accidents in your home would be reduced to the barest minimum.
Over to you
This post was not intended to be exhaustive. It’s possible we left out so many things; so we would love to hear from you the steps you are taking to prevent accidents in your home. Share your experience with us using the comment box below. Your contribution could go a long way at helping to save a life.
Do you have any question? Let us know in the comment section, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.