Making your home a safe haven for your family should be a top priority. Luckily, updating your home safety doesn’t have to be a daunting task with these steps:

• Bathrooms: To start, locate medicines and dangerous chemicals and place them together in a locked cabinet. Next, set your hot water heater below 120 degrees and install grab bars to help prevent falls.

• Kitchen: Ensure hazardous items like knives, scissors, cleaning supplies, plastic bags and cords are out of reach. Also, keep a fire extinguisher within arm’s reach of your oven for any cooking accidents.

• Stairs: To prevent falls, ensure there is bright lighting near stairs and remove or secure tripping hazards, such as throw rugs, from the area. Be sure working smoke detectors are in the hallways on each floor and change their batteries every six months. Finally, provide secure railings on both sides of the stairs.

• Electrical / Heating: To start, place safety plugs in all electrical outlets. Next, create barriers around any hot surfaces, such as baseboards, radiators and fireplaces. Finally, be sure that all electrical outlets near water sources feature ground fault circuits to prevent electrocution.

• Bedrooms: If you’re in an older home, be sure that the walls have a safe, non-lead paint. Next, look for any dangling cords from blinds and pin them up. Window guards also are available to prevent accidental falls from open windows.

• Family Room: Place large equipment on a wall and make the wires / cords inaccessible. Secure any shelves or bookcases to the wall to avoid tipping hazards. Also, if you have toddlers, be sure to add corner pads to any furniture with sharp corners.

For more tips on making your home safe, visit www.mysafehome.org.

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