Home is the place where everyone should feel completely safe but, statistically, it's the place where most accidents happen. According to the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit (VISU) at Monash University, home is the most common location for an injury to occur, with domestic accidents accounting for more than 29,000 presentations at Victorian casualty departments in 2008/2009.
"Unsurprisingly, it is the very young and the elderly who are most likely to sustain an injury at home," says Barbara Minuzzo, Senior Project Coordinator for the Safety Centre at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. "But having a safe home is something we should all be concerned about because anyone can have a bad fall or an accident, regardless of their age. Not only that, no-one likes to think of a visitor to their home hurting themselves."
Choosing an appropriate non-slip surface for your kitchen floor is one of the best ways to prevent falls. "In the kitchen, there can be a trade-off between the amount of slip resistance and ease of cleaning," says Kate Lane, Indoor Product Manager for Amber Tiles. "If you are concerned about falls occurring after a spill on the kitchen floor, it may be best to avoid high-gloss or polished porcelain tiles as these can be slippery. Another thing to watch is water pressure in your basin mixer, so you're not forever having water spraying onto your floor and causing you to slip."
Young children are the most likely to suffer burns and scalds in the kitchen. "Oven doors are one area where you really need to exercise caution when children are around," says Minuzzo. "Turn the oven up to top temperature and touch the door. You should be able to place your hand on it for 10 seconds. If you can't, you should consider getting a guard for it."
Safety first Store all medications and cleaning products out of children's reach.
Keep a fire extinguisher and fire blanket in the kitchen, and know how to use them.
If you're buying a new gas cooktop, look out for safety inclusions such as a flame-failure device, which cuts off the gas if the flame is accidentally extinguished.
Elsewhere in the living room, Australians' love affair with glass – and the easy indoor-outdoor connection it creates – continues unabated. Accordingly, we have become a world leader in adopting building regulations meant to help prevent glass-related injuries at home.
"In new homes glass has to meet safety standards, but it doesn't always do so in older homes," says Minuzzo. "If you have a lot of ordinary glass in your home, or french doors, you should consider using shatter-resistant film or visible stickers at eye level."
Safety first If your television sits on a cabinet with drawers, avoid overfilling any of the drawers. There is an increased risk of the TV overturning whena loaded drawer is pulled open with force.
When very young children are at home, ensure that visitors to your house place any handbags out of the children's reach, in case the bags contain medication or any other hazardous items.
Doors should ideally be hung so that, when opened, they do not encroach on any space where a child may be playing. It's far better for the doors to open against a wall.
"It's important to buy a bunk bed from a reputable retailer," says Kara Norris, National Merchandise Manager for Forty Winks. "We make sure that our sales staff are aware of the specifications and requirements necessary for bunks to be considered safe, and will ensure that mattresses purchased with these products do not exceed the maximum height specified, and that the correct guardrails are provided."
Bedrooms are a good place to think about whether electrical sockets are being used in a safe manner. It's important not to overload power points or power boards by ‘piggybacking' plugs into one socket with double adaptors. Avoid plugging high-wattage appliances, such as heaters, into power boards, as they could cause circuit wiring to overheat and cause a fire.
Safety first It's recommended that smoke alarms be installed in bedrooms, especially if you sleep with the door closed.
If you have young children around, fit safety covers over power points when they're not in use, to prevent children pushing objects into the socket.
Keep a torch by your bed where it will be easy to find, so you can navigate safely in the event of a power outage.
"The combination of hard surfaces and splashed water makes the bathroom a place where you do need to keep safety in mind, especiallyif it's being used by an elderly person," says Minuzzo. Other figures from VISU show that 93 per cent of reported bathroom injuries sustained by people over 65 were falls, and of those accidents, 46 per cent resulted in fractured bones.
"It's a wise homeowner who has the foresight to think ahead to old age when they are building or renovating," says Harry Sprintz, an architect based in Kiama, NSW, who specialises in designing accessible homes. "Keeping surfaces non-slip is important, but you should also think about improving access and allocating what extra space you can to a bathroom for those years down the track when you might appreciate it."
For young children, burns and scalds are other hot topics of bathroom safety to keep in mind. "Hot water should only be heated to 50°C," says Minuzzo. "At 50°C, a child's skin would take five minutes of exposure to cause a serious burn. At 65°C, however, the child would suffer a similar burn in less than a second."
Safety first A non-slip bathmat is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to prevent a fall in the bathroom.
Store electrical items such as hairdryers and shavers away from wet areas when they're not in use.
Choosing a bathroom vanity unit with rounded or softened edges can lessen the severity of injury if you strike it during a fall.
Ladder-related accidents lead to thousands of hospital admissions around Australia each year but are largely preventable, says Tom Gray, one of the developers behind Ladder's Little Helper. This device features anti-slip pads that secure ladders to gutters for increased stability. "I saw a demand for a ladder safety device aimed at the home handyman," says Gray.
As the place where sharp garden tools and chemicals are stored, sheds and garages can also present a potential danger, especially for children. "Keeping dangerous items well out of reach or locked away is important," says Minuzzo. "Sheds and garages are a perfect example of the way that homes tend to be designed for adults, not for small children, and that is the basis of how a lot of safety issues arise."
It's advisable to place any play equipment well away from driveways and to educate children as early as possible about the dangers of driveways, says Kate Fraser, Program Manager of the Playground Advisory Unit for Kidsafe NSW. "You should always be vigilant, too, about water safety," she says. "It's not only in-ground pools that present a danger; a small inflatable pool that's left full can be just as dangerous for a young child."
Safety first Only use extension cords with plugs that have three pins; plugs with two pins are not earthed.
Ensure that children are not able to turn on the barbecue unassisted.
Clear your garden of any debris that has the potential to harbour poisonous spiders or snakes.
