Home safety

Following established safety guidelines can help prevent many childhood injuries. A few basic safety precautions can make all the difference.

Ensure you are prepared by:

• having a fire evacuation plan
• testing your smoke alarms on the same day each year and keeping them dust free
• testing your electrical safety switch.

Read more about:

• fire safety at home
• electrical safety.

Making your home child friendly

Most homes have potential hazards for small children. You can make your home a safer place by following these suggestions.

• Restrict access to the driveway and garage and install self-closing and child-proof doors or gates.
• Install safety gates at the top and bottom of all stairs.
• Remove poisonous plants as well as potting pebbles from your garden and home.
• Make sure that your hot water is below 50ºC. You can have a device installed to do this.
• Place stickers on your glass doors at your child’s eye level so they don’t walk into the doors. Check that the glass is Australian standard safety glass or apply polyester laminate to one side of the glass panel.
• Cover unused power points with safety plugs and use power boards instead of double adapters.

Check if your home is child safe by using the Kidsafe Queensland checklist.

Child-safe habits

Many accidents can be prevented by adopting a few child-safe habits.

• Keep all sharp objects and small objects that can cause choking out of sight and reach.
• Use the back burners of your stove for cooking where possible and turn handles away from the edge.
• Only boil as much water as you need and make sure the kettle cord is not within your child’s reach.
• Make sure that the following items are locked away or out of your child’s reach:
  • handbags and backpacks
  • medications, herbal or homeopathic products, and aroma therapy oils
  • alcohol
  • poisons and detergents
  • ashtrays, cigarettes and lighters.
• Ensure that laundry tubs, buckets and washing machines are empty when not in use and that nappy buckets are closed securely.
• Always supervise children around pets, especially dogs.

Child-safe products

When buying nursery and baby products it’s useful to:

• check the guidelines and alerts from Product Safety Australia. You can also use their Keeping baby safe mobile application for tips on buying and using nursery products
• ensure that all toys are not a choking hazard and are appropriate for your child’s age
• check that second hand nursery furniture meets Australian Safety Standards.

Read more on keeping your baby safe, including advice on car travel and caring for your baby.