Childproofing your house is one thing that every parent should think about before they even bring their baby from the hospital. If you wait for them to grow, before long, they will be crawling, and picking up everything their tiny hands can reach. Therefore, as you set your home to be a safe space for your child, do not forget electricity. Ensure that you know what ways to protect them from the dangers of electricity, not only using mats in every room or blocking stairways. Consult professional electricians to help you take the precautions discussed below. This will ensure your baby’s safety and the whole family’s safety from electrical dangers.
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1. Educate them
If you have pre-teens or older kids, they are of the right age to understand the dangers of playing with electrical devices and wires. Therefore, ensure you explain to them how to be safe while using electricity. For instance, explain to them why it is not safe to overload an outlet with extension cords and power strips. In that, using the TV, video game, laptop, and phone charger all together in one outlet is not acceptable. Explain that this applies to their rooms as well. Then, every night, check if electronics are unplugged.
2. Install GFCIs
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) are essential in any room that has a water source, like the bathrooms and kitchen. To ensure that you get the proper installation done. Hire professional electricians from St.Louis Missouri to help you install a few of them. In this way, you protect everyone around your house. Most importantly, your child against possible electrical shock. The beauty of these is that they will shut off the power automatically in a case where the current is leaking to the ground form the circuit.
3. Shorten cords
When you have an appliance, such as a lamp, that is a foot away from the outlet with a long cord attached to it. This happens many times- where the excess cord can cause your child to stumble by looping around your child’s foot or pull the lamp down on them causing harm. In such cases, it is best to buy a cord shortener. Not only will it look neater, but is much safer.
4. Repair and replace faulty appliances
Some appliances can feel tingly or hot to touch, in case of this, call in a professional to come and sort it out the right way. This is the best thing to do for you do not want your kids to get their hands on these appliances or even be around them as they are a source of possible injury. A qualified electrician will be able to detect what the problem could be, fix it before anything severe happens.
5. Unplug appliances
Before you head off to bed, turn off and unplug all your electronics at home. This is an electric safety measure that everyone should be in the habit to follow. This is vital, especially if you have a toddler that wakes up at night, there will be no live wires that are within reach. Still, ensure that the wires and outlets are out of sight, if not, the children will use them as toys.
6. Use electrical outlet caps
Using electrical outlet caps is the cheapest way to prevent your child from sticking his fingers or objects into the outlets. The benefit of this outlet is that the exposed area is completely flat, hence it is hard for the child to grip on it. Also, they are made of plastic and are plugged directly into the power outlets. The use of this ensures that your child cannot poke anything into the outlets, keeping them safe.
7. Make use of nightlights
Nightlights come in handy to provide illumination in the dark for your child’s safety. It is ideal for your child’s bathroom and bedroom, to prevent them from stumbling over things as they wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Choose the style you prefer, for instance, the table-mounted or outlet-mounted. The outlet-mounted table light is a good choice as it blocks the unused electrical holes from your child’s prying fingers and still provides light to them.
