SAFETY IN THE HOME

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29353, 4 November 1960, Page 16

SAFETY IN THE HOME

10 Simple Rules Given (Wew Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 3. Dangers to children existing in all homes and ways to overcome them were pointed out to delegates at the annual conference of the Plunket Society in Auckland today by Miss J. G. McKay, director of nursing services for the society. Miss McKay suggested these steps could be taken: (1) A baby should be introduced to a good playpen before he is six months old so that he learned to play there happily and in safety. (2) Boiling kettles, hot irons, pans of hot fat, etc., should be well out of reach or firmly fixed in reliable holders.

(3) The handles of saucepans on the stove should be turned inwards.

(4) Electric cords should be hooked out of reach and all fires and heaters well guarded. (5) Flame-resistant material should be used for children’s clothing. (6) Little girls, like their brothers, should wear pyjamas in preference to nightgowns. (7) Every home should have a medicine chest where pills and potions can be locked away. <B> Cleaning materials or poisonous liquids should be kept on a high shelf beyond a child’s reach!

(9) Plastic sheets and garments should be banished frcm the nursery and plastic bags kept well away from children.

(10) The danger with plastic lies in the fact that, when it is warm and moist, it becomes pliable and will mould readily over a child’s face. The more he tries to breathe through it the closer it clings and suffocation can result.