Child Safety and Preventing Burns
The Mayo Clinic has some excellent information on child safety in the home as it particularly relates to fires and burns. I’d like to share some of the highlights with you.
One of the first things is to create a consistent system for making sure your smoke alarms are in good working order. Most of us have smoke alarms installed. But too often, the alarms are out of order or the batteries are dead. It’s important to change the batteries twice a year. We often recommend that you get in the habit of doing so in the spring and fall at the beginning and end of daylight savings time.
Household hazards
There are many things in our homes that have potential to cause burns on children.
- Hot water – when children take baths they love to play with the faucets and fill the tub up. A child’s bath water should be no hotter than 100 F so it’s important to monitor them closely, especially if your thermostat is set higher than 120 F.
- Hot spills – never carry a hot beverage or soup when you’re holding a child. Turn the handles of your pots and pans to a position where a child cannot easily grab them. The use of tablecloths can also pose a hazard. If a child pulls on the tablecloth when there are heavy items or hot liquids, he/she could be burned or otherwise seriously injured.
- Irons – make sure that you unplug your iron immediately after use and keep the cords out of children’s reach.
- Food temperature – many of us use the microwave daily and microwaves have a tendency to heat things unevenly. Make sure that you test food from a microwave before giving it to your child so they are not scalded.
- Electrical outlets – we suggest that you purchase plastic plugs for your outlets so that children cannot place metal objects into the outlet which could cause electrical burns.
Prevent home fires
- Cigarettes – residential fires caused by cigarettes are the leading cause of fire-related death. If you do smoke, consider using deep ashtrays and flood cigarette ashes with water before you put them in the trash.
- Supervise young children – children seem to be innately fascinated by fire. Therefore, it is very important that young children be supervised. They can accidentally start fires by attempting to cook or by using a heater or electrical appliance in the wrong way.
- Space heaters – make sure that you keep these heaters at least three feet away from bedding, drapes, furniture or other flammable materials. Never leave a space heater on when you go to sleep or leave the room.
- Candles – never leave a candle burning when you go to sleep or when you leave the room. And be careful where you position a candle. Make sure that it is not directly under something flammable such as drapes. And make sure that your candles are not in places where children or pets can knock them over.
Protecting your children from burns requires thought and planning. At Terry Bryant Accident & Injury Law we have seen evidence of the trauma and life-changing damage that can occur from severe burns. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen to you or anyone in your family.
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