Electrical safety for children – Awareness begins at home
Keeping your home safe for both yourself and your children is of paramount importance. Your children will learn your practices too, so it’s best to show them the safest way to handle electrical equipment in the house.
Some of the easy to follow steps are:
- Don’t overload sockets with plugs and adapters as this could easily lead to a fire.
- Keep all electrical cords unplugged and stored safely. People could trip over them or exposed wires can lead to a nasty shock.
- Do not yank out the plug from a socket as this could damage the socket, the appliance or expose you to electrocution.
- When taking your children out to fly kites, make sure there aren’t any power lines in the vicinity which the kite could get tangled in.
- Always teach your children how to use appliances safely and watch over them when they use them.
- Make sure the sockets and plugs in your house are in a good condition and appropriately fused.
- Make sure that your child does not handle any electrical equipment with wet hands or near water.
- Cover sockets with safety caps so that children do not play with them or insert objects into them.
- Very small children have a habit of biting wires and this could have very grave consequences. Make sure that all wires are either bolted down or kept out of reach.
- Teach your children never to touch bulbs and lights when they are in operation.
Investing in sockets and appliances which are childproof can also greatly help reduce the chances of accidents. But the most important tool to have is awareness of your child’s actions.