The consideration of poison safety within your home and garden is essential. People the world over are poisoned on a daily basis. There are many types of dangers and many places in which danger lurks.
The greatest risk is to children, because of the vast array of toxic substances that can be found in every room of every home, and because of a small child’s natural curiosity. What do they know or care about poison safety – to them it is all fun stuff to be played with.
Elderly people are often forgetful and are unable to remember whether they have taken their medication, and then they take it again and land up taking an overdose.
Many younger people get involved in drugs and either overdose, or take something new that doesn’t agree with them. In some cases drugs are given to a victim without their knowledge. Poison safety is deliberately disregarded.
Sadly, there are also those people who use poison as a means to deliberately take their own lives .
You cannot do much to protect everyone, (except perhaps to be observant of the people around you and remind them whenever possible about poison safety in the home), but you can take active steps to make sure that your home is “poison safe” and as such to secure child safety for any child, whether your own, or a young visitor.
- Keep ALL types of medication, prescription and non-prescription in a LOCKED cabinet, out of reach of your child.
- Do not leave anything, even vitamins next to your bed or on counter tops. Toddlers are quite capable of reaching up or getting themselves on to a stool, to get at items that you thought were out of their reach.
- Do not tell a child that medicine is “sweetie’s” or “candy”. They may develop a taste for the flavor and try to take more of the product on their own.
- Avoid taking regular medication in front of children, they are likely to want to have some as well, usually when you are not looking and especially if you leave it where they can get hold of it.
- Never give anybody medicine in the dark – you could easily give the incorrect quantity.
- Make sure that both your and visitors handbags are placed well away from little hands. Iron tablets, heart medication and contraceptive pills can often be found in handbags.
- Talk to your adult visitors and make sure they are as conscious of poison safety as you are.
- Always keep pills and other medication in the original container.
- Don’t forget that child-resistant packaging does not mean that it is childproof.
- Do not just throw unused med’s away, or flush them down the toilet. Return them to the pharmacy for safe disposal. If too many people flush medications and other hazardous products, into public water-water areas, your, my and everybody else’s water could become contaminated.
- Store all Household cleaning products including washing powders and liquids and aerosol sprays in a top cupboard. Do not place any cleaning supplies under the sink.
- Never put household cleaning products or chemicals into empty juice or cold-drink bottles.
- Keep chemicals in their original containers and ensure that empty containers are disposed of in a way that no child can get at them.
- Do use safety latches on all cabinets containing hazardous substances.
- Do not think that because your home is safe, everybody else cares about of poison safety.
- If you are visiting someone, ask about poison safety in their home.
- Keep all bottles of alcohol in a securely locked cupboard. Don’t forget that even mouthwash contains alcohol, as does food extract such as vanilla essence.
- Keep a close eye on your toddler at parties. They love to wander around and take mouthfuls from unattended glasses.
- Do not use any children’s items such as baby cots, high chairs and wood toys made and painted during or before the 1970’s. The paint used, often contained high levels of lead.
- Items such as perfume, hair dye, hair spray, nail and shoe polish and nail varnish remover as well as general cosmetics should all be kept out of reach of your little person
- Keep motor-car and gardening products in a securely locked area.
- Avoid spraying pesticides indoors, especially in the kitchen and in children’s bedrooms. Carpets in particular become a catchment area for pesticides.
- Make sure that pesticides, plant food and weed killers are securely locked away.
- If you are obliged make use of any pesticides or household chemicals, remove children, toys and pets from the area and keep them away for as long as possible or as recommended on the product label.
- Never place rodent, snail or insect baits where small children or animals can get at them.
- Many house and garden plants are poisonous. Keep curious little fingers away from ALL plants.
- Carbon monoxide is produced by the incomplete burning of fuels e.g. gas, wood, petrol. You cannot smell it. Think poison safety. Install Carbon Monoxide detectors in your home.
- If you can smell gas, turn all burners, stoves and gas heaters off, open windows and doors and leave the house.
- Make sure that your boiler and gas fire are serviced regularly to help prevent the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Make sure that bedrooms are adequately ventilated. Do not block chimneys, or air vents.
- Check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors regularly.
- No person or animal should be in a garage, whether the door is closed or not, when the car engine is running, the exhaust fumes can kill.
Please remember that in all instances of poisoning, the Poison Control Center will be able to help you quickly if you have the following information ready:
- Your name and phone number.
- The name, age, weight, and health status of the child or adult who has been poisoned.
- Type of product e.g. gas, fumes, pills, bee sting etc. Read the brand name, where applicable, as it is written on the label. Include the list of ingredients and the company
- name and contact number, if it is available.
- Amount of product involved in poisoning.
- Time of poisoning.
- What signs have been noted.
- Any initial first aid measures taken.
- Your location and how far you are from an emergency medical facility.
Please, no matter what products you use in your home, no matter how innocent its purpose is – think poison safety!
Perhaps you can start a poison safety campaign in your area, at the local schools, and among your friends and family
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