Share your top safety tips for your family – carbon monoxide alarms and £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Whether you’re preparing for a new arrival or you’re just trying to keep up with your family’s needs, it may seem as though you’re constantly making lists of the things you’ll need to buy to keep your family safe – from the latest car or booster seats to bath thermometers or drawer locks. Co-Be Alarmed! would like to hear about the top safety tips you have for your home and family - whether they’re things you’ve bought or things that you do.

Here’s what they have to say: “Research from the national CO-Be Alarmed! campaign showed that while UK parents spend an average of £222 on safety features for their kids, a third of mums and dads do not have a carbon monoxide alarm in their home. Those with children under twelve months were found to be the least likely to have one.

Carbon monoxide is also known as ‘the silent killer’ because you can’t see, taste or smell it, which is why the only way to protect yourself and your family is to buy a CO alarm. Make sure you add one to your list: it’s one less thing to worry about and it could save your family’s life.”

So, share your top safety tips for your home and family to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice.

Additionally, if you also add your details here, you’ll be entered into a prize draw for one of 100 carbon monoxide alarms from Co-Be Alarmed!

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Advice for when your darlings are little... when baby proofing get down to their level.

I thought our house had been totally babyproofed until I crawled around and found a pen and earring under my sofa within easy reach. Both are things I wouldn't want him getting his little hands on.

Also assume everything is a danger to little ones. My little boy broke one of my candle holders by banging it against my tv cabinet and even plastic is extremely sharp when broken. Everything is better out of reach.

When you have small children then you need to get into the habit of doing an explicit handover from one responsible adult to another, especially when you're out and about or when there are loads of different adults and children in a group. "I am going to the loo so DC1 is in your specific charge until you hand him back to me". Number one reason for child getting lost is because each parent thought they were with the other one. And if there is a swimming pool or other open water in the vicinity then that goes double, and needs to carry on until the child is much older - up to eight years old.

We keep all the internal doors (and external ones obviously) closed at night - this is meant to reduce risk of a fire spreading.

We are also teaching DD1 to fall over! She has a visual impairement and other additional needs and it never occurs to her to put her arms out if she loses her balance.

Don't get complacent and be aware that as your children (taller, more curious, braver) so do the requirements to keep them safe.

One of the most memorable things we've done to instil fire safety awareness was to have the local fire engine come to our house. The firemen planned escape routes with the DC and advised them what to do if they ever saw flames or smoke. The DC were super-impressed plus they got to play on the fire engine afterwards. Well worth the effort of a local phone call.

We made sure all tippable furniture is fixed to the wall. There have been some tragic accidents with toddlers pulling over tall chest of drawers or bookcases.

My teenagers love using disposable barbecues on picnics and they also love camping - I've made sure they know never to bring the dying barbecue into a tent - they give off lots of co2 and are really dangerous.

This thread has prompted to check our co2 alarm (we have a log burner) so thanks for that! -

My top safety tip is to always ensure that I open the car doors to let my child out. Children seated in the rear of the car do not have the view point of a wing mirror and I worry that they will just throw the door open either in to the path of an on coming car of on the pavement side into a poor passerby.

We have a wind up torch hanging next to the door in each room in case of a power cut or fire.

When I was pregnant with DD2 our carbon monoxide detector went off in the middle of the night. The alarm woke us up and we turned gas off at mains, opened windows (reading then showed zero) and called the engineer out in the morning. The boiler was faulty & leaking. I dread to think what could have happened if we didn't have the alarm.

My safety tip is to test the battery in your detectors when the clocks change so that you always remember to do it twice a year.

Teach your children how and when to ring 999.

Make sure they know what to do in case of fire.

The pants rule for keeping themselves safe.

If you are at busy UK attraction, obtain a free wristband from customer services. Put your phone number on the inside so u can be rang if separated or if child gets lost.

We used a safe circle (or square) system when loading or unloading the car and in carparks. Started by getting DC to rest a hand on the fuel flap.

A variation is to get a small sticker and have that as the safe spot.

A different safety tip is to ensure that children know how and when to dial an emergency number and that the learn their address as soon as possible.

When I open a new pack of batteries for something, a toy or remote for example, I put the new ones in our carbon dioxide detector and use the ones I take out in the remote etc. That way I know it has a fairly frequent rotation of new batteries as it doesn't bleep when the battery is low like some detectors do.

We take a small battery CO monitor on holiday with us. One of the best safety feature we bought when the kids were small was a guard (from Ikea) that went around the hob. It kept small hands away from saucepan handles and helped to contain hazards linked to spillage or splashes from hot pans.

Teach children that the police are there to help. Don't use the police as a threat to make them behave by saying that they will tell them off.

We have the following in our house:
Locks on the cupboards (containing cleaning products)
Smoke alarm & carbon monoxide alarm
Plug socket covers
Stair gates
Baby monitors
Corner protectors (on sharp table corners)

This may not be an exhaustive list!?!

Drilling road safety into them, until it is absolutely ingrained in them to behave around roads. I was so proud and relived when Ds friend ran across road outside school and even though they were in the middle of chatting Ds stopped at the kerb and did not follow

We rehearse exit options in case of a fire for every room. Where to get out and how, including which mattress to get out of the window before trying to climb out. Everyone knows how to escape wherever we are

We have carbon monoxide alarms, we make sure they are the right distance from boiler and the British gas engineer checks it when they do their yearly check

We also made sure we know the signs to look out for

Even although my children are a little older I still always cook on the back rings of my hob to avoid any accidents.

We have a fire escape plan and run through a planned drill once a year. Never had to put it into practice but it's good for peace of mind. We have fire doors in the house.

Always have planned evacuation routes for emergencies.

Make sure that as soon as children are old enough to use a phone they know how to dial 999.

Get an alarm that has a noise/volume/frequency that young chidren, will be able to hear to wake them if they are sleep - I have recently read about studies proving it is very common for them to sleep through smoke alarms going off, especially boys when they are just the usual lous beeps.

We keep our kids safe by teaching them to be wise. We have a lock on our under sink cupboard, but we also teach them what they can and can't touch.. for example, we don't have a fire guard.. we emphasise that the wood burner is 'hot hot' and we would never leave her alone with it, but she knows not to go anywhere near it- and she does avoid it. We did it with our elder daughter, and neither of them struggle with boundaries. I suppose, we'd plan to teach them to be safe, but keep an eye on them nontheless...

Teach children about 999 and their address etc . Keep phones in reach of children and show them how to use them.

Make sure you don't overload plug sockets and multigangs - know what load a socket can take and never daisychain multigangs. Too much load on a socket can cause fires.

Never leave a tumble dryer on overnight, or on whilst a kid naps and you're out in the garden and can't get to them.

Keep toiletries out of reach, especially bio oil and baby oils.

Don't leave razors out around the sink or bath, keep them covered with the guards and up high.

Someone else already mentioned, but use the back burners on the hob and turn handles of pans so that they are closer to the wall and far from little hands reaching up.