Home Safety For You and Your Family. It's Your Decision.

Home Safety For Your Baby, Child, and Family.

Helping to Protect Your Children.

If you have a new baby or young children in your home I urge you to review the conditions in your home for their safety. A review by you may prevent an injury prior to it happening.

In an average year according to WebMD 22 million hospital visits are made by home owners, children, or guests of their homes as a result of home accidents taking place in the home. In addition 20-30 thousand people die each year as a result of home related accidents. These statistics also include adults and not just children. Is your home safe?

The number of accidents and the types of accidents in a home are often preventable. Why do homeowner's think there home is safe? The answer is that they are unaware of the many types of conditions in their home that may cause accidents.

The article by WebMD confirms that when home owners are asked how they can make their house or home safer the answer most given is that they do not know or they believe there are no safety issues in their home. This response is indicative only that most property owners may be unaware of the many types of potential unsafe conditions that can develop and be present. As an experienced inspector I have heard many times in my career when an item was pointed out to the property owner the response is usually "I have never had any problem with it" or "I did not recognize that could be a problem."

The answer to the above is education and an inspection by a knowledgeable professional in many of the areas that should be reviewed for potential unsafe conditions.

The type's of accidents, injuries, and deaths in a house hold are many and have resulted from a number of conditions. The majority of the accidents and injuries occur from burns and scalding, carbon monoxide poisoning, chemical misuse, chimney fires, deck failures, electrical hazards, explosions, drowning, falls, firearms, fires, fire hazards, gas leaks, hazardous materials, lead paint, lead water lines, leaks, missing safety equipment, misuse of drugs (legal and illegal), poisonings, mold, poor behavior and judgment, structure maintenance failures, suffocation, unsafe construction, unsafe equipment, unsafe electrical conditions and practices, unsafe kitchens, unsafe storage conditions, and other conditions.

The injuries and deaths vary accordingly from state to state in their measurement per 100,000 of population. The statistics span all age groups. The types of injuries to the body are death, fractures, sprains, broken bones, cuts, shock, soft tissue injuries, eye related injuries, punctures, burns, strokes, bites, poisonings, paralysis, and so on. It is most likely that anything that can happen to the body has happen in the home from unsafe conditions.

While this hub's intent is not to list all of the possibilities of conditions that can be found or to identify all condition's or types of injuries that can incur this hub intent is to educate the home owner that just because you can not identify any unsafe condition in your home does not mean there are none. I have personally done thousands of inspections in owner's homes and I can't think of any home where there was not a condition that needed or should be corrected. These corrections can either be minor or major. It is especially true for existing structures. One of the biggest issued observed in existing structures are electrical code violations.

The following items can lead to unsafe conditions and accidents for occupants of the home.

* Do not allow your children to be around the kitchen and cook top where they can touch hot surfaces and pull pans off the stove.

* Check and insure your kitchen range has an anti tip bracket installed.

* Do not leave your child or baby when they are being bathed and do not allow swimming in any pool where adult supervision is not present.

* Secure all drugs from access by your children and unauthorized persons.

* Secure all household cleaners and chemicals in a secure cabinet preferably away from the home and your children in a detached shed as much as possible.

* Check all banister's, guardrails, and handrails to insure their presence and they are in good condition with no movement.

* Check and insure there is no opening in any guardrail larger that would allow a 4 inch ball to pass through.

* Check and insure that minimum safety equipment is present including ABC rated fire extinguisher, smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide alarm is present.

* Check and insure that no child or adult can pull over any furniture, including a TV sitting on an unstable television stand or dresser top. There are numerous child injuries due to these conditions.

* Check and insure that any firearm's in the home are locked up and secured.

* Read the hub from this author entitled "25 Safety Tips To Review Regarding Your Home."

An inspection by a qualified profession will evaluate a number of points that you may not even consider or have qualified knowledge about. In a basic safety review it is not uncommon to consider over 200 general typical points. The points to consider and evaluate are as varied as the individual, their needs and habits, type of house, physical conditions, maintenance conditions, equipment present, and other factors. It is recommended that a one time consultation with a professional will heighten your awareness to potential problems in your home. Please answer the two survey or poll questions posted below. While the above recommendations appear tame and obvious they are by no means cover all the conditions that may be discovered by an inspection from a professional with a trained eye. I hope this hub has helped you and your family's safety.

While you may believe that there are no issues in your home I can guarantee from experience that there are always improvements that can be made for the safety of the occupants. This hub can not list all items that would be considered during an inspection. I will be writing a hub with some of the conditions found in homes during my career. The statistics from WebMD clearly show that household safety is an issue for the injuries and deaths incurred. This hub does not imply sport injuries on exterior.

If you live in Western Pennsylvania and would like an inspection of your home or business please call IPIC Safety Inspections at 412.561.5969. We offer multi type inspections and audits for different client requirements.