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Hazards, Where Are You Hiding?
Hidden Household Safety Dangers Often Overlooked
By Shannon McKelden
Don't forget that household visitors may have potentially hazardous products with them. Kathleen M. Waszolek, director of the Banner Poison Control Center in Phoenix, Ariz., warns that this overlooked danger is responsible for many poisonings each year. "Children will locate items in suitcases, etc., that are not under the same level of protection as the items that are normally in their home," Waszolek says. "Also, visiting elderly relatives may have medications without child-resistant packaging."
Waszolek also warns that lamp or aromatic oils can be harmful if swallowed and/or aspirated. Cigarettes or cigarette butts are also dangerous. "Nicotine can be extremely poisonous to children and pets, in even small amounts," she says.
What happens if your child does ingest a possible poison? "Not all poisonings require a visit to the hospital or doctor's office," says Meri-K Appy, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Home Safety Council. "Call the poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222 if someone has eaten, touched or breathed a poison and is not in need of a 911 call or if you have poison prevention questions." Never feel that a question is too silly. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Other physical dangers also lurk throughout the home. While supervising her 12-month-old granddaughter and 4-year-old grandson one day, Dane McReynolds' mother watched the children play from her recliner vantage point. "The baby was in front of her chair playing with a toy, and my nephew ... decided to pop out the flip-out foot rest on the recliner," says McReynolds, a resident of Beaumont, Texas. "Flipping out quickly, it hit the baby in the face, giving her a bruise on her face that garnered a lot of negative attention until it faded." Similarly, children can be harmed if the footrest is lowered quickly, pinching fingers or worse.
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