How do I make a home safer for a small child?

Childproofing lists tend to treat every item as equal. In practice a small number of hazards account for most serious injuries: furniture and television tip-overs, looped blind cords, scalds from hot water and hot drinks, falls from height, and access to medicines and chemicals. Those come first.

Safety

What you'll need

• Furniture anchor straps
• Blind cord cleats or breakaway devices
• Cupboard locks or catches
• Stair gates
• Socket covers — see the note below (optional)

Step by step

1. Anchor every piece of tall or unstable furniture, and all televisions, to the wall.Chests of drawers, bookcases, wardrobes and TVs. Tip-overs cause serious crush injuries and anchoring straps cost very little.
2. Deal with blind and curtain cords.Fit a cleat high on the wall, a breakaway device, or replace with cordless blinds. Keep cots and beds well away from windows and cords.
3. Lock away medicines, cleaning products, alcohol and laundry capsules.High up and locked, not just high up. Liquid laundry capsules are particularly hazardous and attractive to small children.
4. Fit stair gates at the top and bottom of stairs.Screw-fitted at the top — pressure-fitted gates can be pushed out at the top of a flight, which is the worst place for it.
5. Turn the hot water temperature down, and fit thermostatic valves where you can.Scalds from hot tap water cause serious burns quickly. Around 46°C at the tap is a commonly recommended maximum for baths.
6. Keep hot drinks well away from edges and never hold one near a child.Hot drinks are one of the leading causes of scalds in young children, and a cup stays hot enough to scald for a long time.
7. Fit window restrictors upstairs, and move climbable furniture away from windows.Falls from windows are rare but severe. Restrictors are inexpensive and unobtrusive.
8. Check for small objects, button batteries and magnets at floor level.Button batteries in particular cause severe internal injuries if swallowed and are a genuine emergency. Keep them locked away.
9. Fit a stair gate or barrier to the kitchen if you can.Kitchens concentrate several hazards. Restricting access during cooking removes most of them at once.

Tips

• Get down to the child's height and look around. You'll see hazards from that level that are invisible standing up.
• UK sockets are designed with shutters, and the official advice is that plastic socket covers are unnecessary and can actually make sockets less safe. Skip them.
• Re-assess every few months. What's safe for a baby who can't move is not safe for a toddler who can climb.
• Know the emergency number and keep it accessible. For a swallowed button battery, seek emergency medical help immediately — it's time-critical.

Common mistakes

• Not anchoring furniture and televisions — Tip-overs cause serious crush injuries, and children climb drawers. Anchoring is cheap and highly effective.
• Leaving looped blind cords accessible — A recognised strangulation hazard that has caused deaths. It needs addressing, not just tidying.
• Using pressure-fitted gates at the top of stairs — They can be pushed out. The top of a flight needs a screw-fitted gate.
• Using plastic socket covers — UK sockets already have internal shutters. Covers can hold those shutters open and are advised against.

Questions people ask