Every year, about a million children are taken to hospital after an accident in the home. That's exactly what happened to Jack, aged nine months. “It happened in seconds,” says Jack's mum, Julia. “I had a friend round for a cup of tea and Jack was playing next to us with his toys. I got up to get some more biscuits and, as I turned round, I saw Jack standing on tiptoes and grabbing my cup from the table. The tea splashed on his arms and scalded him. It wasn’t even boiling hot but he still got a nasty blister.”

“You can’t prevent every little mishap,” says Katrina Phillips of the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), “but there is a lot you can do to make your home a safer place for your baby.”

Even before your baby shows any signs of being able to move anywhere on his own, you need to make sure there’s nothing nasty or dangerous within his reach. “The best way to do this,” says Katrina, “is to get down on your hands and knees and take a good look round your home from baby eye level.”

“Also, make sure you fit a smoke alarm on every floor of your home,” adds Katrina, “and don’t forget to test the batteries once a week.”

Spotting hazards in the home

Don’t just think about what your child can touch, reach and climb up now; think about what he may be able to manage in a few weeks’ or months’ time. Things to look out for include:

• Empty plug sockets — cover them with plug-in safety covers
• Blind and curtain ties — make sure they’re kept well out of reach so that your child can’t become entangled in them
  Windows — fit a lock or catch that will stop them opening far enough for a child to fall out
• Coins, watch batteries, buttons, paperclips — remove anything small enough to choke on or swallow and put them well out of reach
• Trailing electrical flexes — tuck them behind furniture or enclose in a Wire Guard, which you then attach to the wall
• Sharp corners at baby head-height — slip on ready-made plastic corner covers or make your own from cork, felt or bubble wrap
• Chests of drawers or bookshelves that are easy to topple — if it has drawers at the bottom, fill them with something heavy — if not, bolt it to the wall   
• Open fires or heaters — a fireguard is a very worthwhile investment.

Making your kitchen safe

This is where most accidents happen — kitchens are full of all sorts of equipment that looks fun to fiddle with but absolutely isn’t. To make your kitchen less hazardous:

• Turn in the handles of saucepans when you’re cooking – your child then can’t pull the pan of hot stuff off the stove
• Watch where you leave hot drinks — a cup of tea can scald a toddler’s thin skin even ten minutes after you made it
• Put sharp knives out of reach — also matches, lighters, skewers, scissors, tin openers, pizza wheels and anything else sharp
• Never sit your child on the countertop — if you let him think it’s okay to be up there, he could climb up one day on his own
• Keep all your cleaning stuff out of reach and sight, preferably in a locked cupboard – you don’t want your toddler finding the bleach when your back’s turned
• Tie a knot in plastic bags so your child can’t pull one over his head and suffocate  
• Use a five-point harness on the highchair — he’ll soon get used to it
• Put cupboard locks on low cupboards with dangerous or fragile stuff inside.

Safe and sound in the bathroom

Did you know a child can drown in 2 to 3cm of water in less than one minute? It’s a fact that still makes Aisha Mohammed’s blood run cold. “I was just running a bath for Rosie, my 20 month old,” she says, “when I realised I’d left her towel in her bedroom. I ran to get it. When I came back — about 30 seconds later — I found Rosie standing in the bath. I’ve no idea how she got in there.” To keep your children safe in the bathroom:

• Never leave your child alone in the bath, even for a second, and never leave your child alone in the bathroom when the bath’s running
• Keep the bathroom door closed and the lid down on the toilet
• Put all your medicines out of reach and sight, preferably in a locked cupboard  
• Keep all your lotions, potions, razors, hair straighteners and hairdryers on a high shelf
• Test the bathwater with your elbow before you put your child in. If you have a thermostatic temperature control on your boiler, adjust the hot water to a lower temperature.

Safety in the garden

Gardens are great play spaces as long as you’ve made sure your child can’t open the gate or squeeze through the fence onto the road or into other, less safe gardens. You should also:

• Fence off ponds or fill them in, and store paddling pools upside down
• Lock up gardening tools, weedkillers, slug pellets and fertilisers  
• Store your barbecue (and barbecue equipment) out of reach
• Check the garden regularly for poo – some cat, dog and fox poo can carry worms and bugs that could make your toddler ill.

Take care on the stairs

As many as 35,000 children under four hurt themselves falling down the stairs every year. To help stop your child joining the statistics:  

• Gate the stairs at the top and bottom — and don’t forget to shut them!
• Make sure the top gate is set a little way back from the top step so, if your child discovers how to climb over it, she doesn’t tumble straight downstairs
• Fix the bottom gate a few steps up, then your child will have the chance to practise going up and down a little.
  

* If your child is admitted to hospital after an accident, don’t be too alarmed if the doctors or nurses ask questions to find out whether he was harmed accidentally or deliberately. It’s not personal — it’s just that they’re legally required to do this every time a child comes into hospital following an accident.

Find out more

• Child Accident Prevention Trust
  www.capt.org.uk

• Now read our feature on keeping your baby safe