This week is Child Safety Week, taking place from Monday 5th
to Sunday 11th June, and promoting the theme of ‘Safe children: sharing
is caring’.
Child Safety Week is run by the Child Accident Prevention
trust, and this campaign aims to reduce the number of young children seriously
injured in preventable accidents. We all have a responsibility to keep children
safe, and nothing is more powerful than sharing practical advice and knowledge.
This is why families, friends, businesses and communities are coming together
this week to discuss the simple things we can all do to keep children
safe.
It is essential to have plumbing and heating appliances in the
home, but it is important to ensure that they don’t pose a danger to young
children. Just follow these simple tips and tricks so you can make your house
‘child-friendly’...
* Collaborative post
In the bathroom
When optimising your family bathroom, it is important to
consider what shower your children will be using. To prevent the risk of
scalding, it is worth switching from a regular shower to a thermostatic shower.
Thermostatic showers guarantee temperature stability for your children despite
changes in cold and hot water pressure, and can be easily plumbed into your
existing system.
For increased safety, digital showers offer accurate temperature control to within a degree and some
models can even run your child the perfect bath. Simply programme a safe depth
level and temperature for your child and the digital shower will fill the tub
independently. But remember – it’s the little details that matter too! Bath
mats and non-slip bath strips help prevent slipping, and soft close toilet
seats prevent any small hands from getting trapped.
It is also important to never underestimate a child’s
curiosity. All too often children will reach up for ointments, medicines and
razors that are kept on work surfaces and window sills. Make sure you lock away
harmful bathroom essentials in a wall-hung cabinet or bathroom vanity unit. If
you keep bleach and cleaning products in a low-level storage unit, then fix a
child lock onto the cabinet doors. You can’t always rely on ‘child-lock caps’
on bottled liquids!
In the living room
Heating appliances can pose serious risks to young children,
so it is worth taking extra precautions to ensure their safety. The location of
your heating appliances is an important consideration, so make sure to never
place a radiator or heating appliance near your child’s bed. This is the best
way to stop your child from falling onto a hot surface. Portable heaters should
also be switched off and unplugged in a room where your child is unsupervised.
This makes it impossible for your child to trip over the cable or to adjust the
temperature to high heat. Alternatively, fireguards are brilliant buys that
prevent your child from accessing the hot grills and heating controls.
Radiators are a key feature in any home, but they still pose
a risk to young children. Bespoke radiator cabinets look effortlessly stylish
and protect your child from burning themselves. If you don’t want to cover your
radiators, it is easy to use Thermostatic Radiator valves to reduce the surface
temperature of the radiator to a luke-warm level. Some TRV’s come with
child-lock safety features so they can’t be altered by your little ones!
Around the house
Some dangers are less easy to spot than others. Carbon
Monoxide poisoning affects up to 200 people in the UK a year and the only way
to keep your family safe is to install an audible CO alarm.
Carbon Monoxide is produced when gas or oil is not burnt
properly, and it can be released into your home if you have a faulty boiler,
cooker or gas fire. A simple carbon monoxide alarm can be bought for as little as £20 and will instantly alert
the family to any danger. They should be placed around the house in the same
way that fire alarms are i.e. in the kitchen, living/dining room and bedrooms.
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