Reducing Home Health Hazards

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner. Hardware stores, nurseries and lumber yards bustle with homeowners setting up for home improvement projects. Working around the home can be fun and rewarding, but a fall from a ladder or a partially amputated foot followed by a trip to the emergency room and six weeks flat on your back can certainly put a damper on things.

The numbers are frightening. From 1992 to 1999 over 18,000 people were killed each year in home accidents, and millions more injured from falls, burns, cuts and falls. Home is definitely where the danger is. Groups at highest risks from accidents at home are children and the elderly, in part because they spend so much time at home. Children are particularly vulnerable because they are so active, and inquisitive, they have to know what’s going on everywhere, all the time. Also, small bodies may be seriously injured by falls, etc. that would not harm an adult. Seniors may not be steady on their feet, or they may not see very well. Household dangers are legion, but injuries can be reduced with a few changes in environment and behavior:

LADDERS

> Ladders come in various sizes and often they have stickers or tags with instructions for their use. Read these carefully, and make sure you have the proper ladder for the job.
> Inspect the ladder carefully before you set foot on it. Make sure the rungs are clean and dry. If the ladder is shaky, set it aside.
> If your project involves electricity, use a fiberglass ladder.
> A rule of thumb: For every four feet of ladder length, set the bottom one foot away from the support surface (wall or roofline) – (“4 to 1” rule).
> Before climbing a stepladder make sure the spreaders – braces that hold the front and back open – are open and locked. Don’t stand on the top (bucket) shelf.
> With an extension ladder, make sure the top extends three feet over the top of the support surface.
> Don’t strain to reach. Move the ladder or have someone help you.
> Only one person on the ladder at a time.
> Don’t carry tools in your hands. Have someone hand them up to you.

FIRE

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that as many as 16 million households have smoke detectors that do not work, mostly due to dead or missing batteries. If you are not sure if yours works, press the Test button. If you don’t hear anything, replace the battery. For more on smoke detectors and how they work, click here.. Or cut and paste this URL into your address box: http://www.hometips.com/hyhw/electrical/36smoke.html.

Another serious fire danger are room candles. According to the CPSC, “yearly room candle fire deaths increased 750% over the last two decades, as more and more people decorate with them. Candles are beautiful and contribute greatly to the ambiance of your home, but a fire certainly won’t, so be sure the candles are completely out when you leave the room or the house. The CPSC recommends keeping “at least two fully charged, multipurpose (A-B-C) fire extinguishers, one in the kitchen area and one in the garage, in plain sight near the exit.

Have an escape plan and drill your family with it until they are familiar with the procedure. How will you get out (from each room)? Where will you meet once out? Appoint someone to be responsible for helping small children and any elderly living or staying in your home.

Another safety hazard in the home is the space heater. All space heaters should be placed at least three feet from any combustible, including furniture, clothing, or bedding. When you leave the room or go to bed, turn the heater off, and unplug it. Never drape wet objects over the heater to dry. Check the cords every time you use the heater, and if the heater needs repairs, summon a professional. If fuel needs to be added, unplug the heater and let it cool down before fueling.

For more information on fire safety, click here, or cut and paste this into your address box: http://houseandhome.msn.com/improve/experts/firesafety0.aspx.

LAWN MOWER

Don’t wait for your power lawn mower to traumatize you; take steps to ensure it doesn’t. Any grass nanny will tell you that lawn mowers are much more dangerous than people realize. In September 2003, “Rescue Rick the Grass Cut Man” suffered a partial amputation of his left foot in an altercation with a lawn mower. He landed in the hospital, where he endured a “series of extensive surgical operations.” He warns that 100,000 mower accidents occur yearly, of which 3,000 are fatalities. He asks that people do all they can to further “the implementation of preventive grass cut safety measures and procedures.”

Naturally, you will wear protective clothing while mowing the lawn: heavy boots or shoes with rubber soles and good traction to prevent slipping, and leather gloves. Of course, you will never put your hands or feet under the mower when it is running. Keep children and pets away from the mower, and before you mow, walk the grass to make sure no tools, large rocks or other potentially dangerous projectiles remain on the lawn. If you are unsteady on your feet or have anxiety about the mower, hire a professional service.

Another potential hazard is the power weed-eater or leaf-blower. Wallace Williams at http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/ashore/issues/spring02/help.htm tells about a frightening incident that happened while he was cleaning up the yard:

“(We were) yanking weeds, trimming bushes, and redistributing mulch. My 11-year old daughter was an eager helper. She and I were joking around and having a good time…I was using manual clippers to knock down the shrubbery to a manageable size while she used an electric leaf-blower and vacuum to move all the clippings to a central site for bagging.”

The leaf blower was new and simple to operate, so Wallace allowed his daughter to use it. Almost at once he heard a cry for help and turned to find his daughter “with the equipment on top of her head.” At first, he thought she was just joking around, but she kept yelling. She had lifted the blower-vacuum over her head and about 18 inches of her long hair “caught in the unit and wrapped around the armature of the motor.”
Fortunately for Wallace and his daughter, she was not seriously injured. The blower had a safety device that shut down the unit immediately, but he and his daughter were both severely shaken. Her hair had to be cut loose with scissors – you can imagine the shock of her mother when she came home!
BATHROOM

Some 70% of all home accidents take place in the bathroom: about 200,000 every year. To prevent falls:

> Use a nonskid bathmat in the tub and shower. Wet feet are slippery.
> Make sure your bathroom rugs are designed with safety in mind.
> Have grab bars installed in tub, shower and near the toilet. This is particularly important if you have elderly visitors or family members. Different designs and finishes can be purchased to keep your bathroom from looking like it belongs in an institution.
> Put a night light in the bathroom.

More than 4,000 children are scalded by hot tap water every year. To prevent this, keep your water heater set at 120 degrees and test it with your hand, but remember, your hands is more familiar with hot water than is your child’s skin. I have seen children get out of the tub with a clearly defined line around the waist: white above, bright red below. Such a child has been scalded. If you have to leave the room, wrap the child in a towel and take them with you.

Outlets and light switches should be installed across the room, away from the shower or tub, and electrical appliances should have ground fault circuit interrupters to prevent electric shock. If electric hair curlers or irons must be used in the bathroom, plug them in away from the sink or cover the sink with something that will prevent them falling into the water.
CHEMICALS

You are surrounded by chemical pollutants. Your house, your neighborhood, the very air you breathe and the food you eat is polluted. Your house traps pollutants and hazardous chemicals; they’re in the new carpeting in your den, in the drinking water and in the soil that surrounds your house.

There’s formaldehyde in the glue that was used to install that carpet; mold and dust mites in the old carpet; in an old house there may be lead in the paint on the walls; asbestos in the insulation and the flooring; pesticides in the garage or in your closet, disinfectants in the kitchen.

The top ten air pollutants are:

> Moisture, molds, mildew, dust mites: keep your home reasonably dry but ventilated, your air conditioners and humidifiers maintained. Keep pet dander at a minimum – brush your dogs and cats outside, or buy an air cleaner.
> Carbon monoxide: make sure your heating appliances, furnaces and water heaters are vented.
> Formaldehyde: ask about carpeting, drapes; avoid particleboard products.
> Radon: a radioactive gas from soil and rocks around the house and some building materials.
> Organic compounds: paints, solvents, air fresheners, hobby supplies, dry cleaned clothing, aerosol sprays, adhesives used in furniture.
> Asbestos: If your house is more than 20-25 years old, have it checked. If undamaged asbestos is found, it’s probably best to leave it where it is.
> Lead: found in paint in older houses. Avoid sanding, scraping and burning.
> Particulates: fireplace burning, woodstoves, unvented heaters, tobacco, dust and pollen.
> Building materials: may contain asbestos, lead, formaldehyde and other pollutants.
> Smoking.

FALLS

Falls account for 40% of non-fatal injuries and 46% of all deaths in the home. Nearly 80% of these deaths are seniors over 65. Every five hours an elderly person is killed by an accidental death in the home. The majority of victims suffered from longstanding illness or disability, and their injuries are likely to be more serious than the fall would be in a younger person.

Stairs are a major culprit. Over 60% of deaths from falls on stairs; 15% are from falls from chairs or beds, and about the same number are caused by tripping over a rug, the dog, or some other obstacle.
Risk factors for falls include:

> Vitamin D and calcium deficiency: weak muscles and bones
> Medication: pain relief, antidepressants and others (ask your doctor)
> Recent stroke or heart disease
> Being female
> Lack of mobility, poor balance control
> Environmental hazards

FIREARMS

According to the New England Journal of Medicine (v329,n.15 1993), you or someone you love are three times as likely to be murdered if firearms are kept in the home. Violence involving guns is the second-leading cause of injury-related fatalities in the US, after auto accidents, but in Alaska, Washington D.C., Maryland and Nevada, deaths from firearms bypasses car accidents. Every eight seconds a new gun is made in this country, and every hour four people die from gunshot wounds.

Guns are a real menace. We have all heard the stories: tot shoots another child with father’s gun (left lying loaded and with the safety off on a coffee table, and that father was a cop); brother kills sister with a gun he found in a closet; teenager accidentally kills mother while cleaning gun; grandfather gives a boy who has been in trouble with the law nearly all his short life a shotgun, he uses it on his parents – they go on and on, and each means tragedy and waves of violent devastation spiraling out to include other families, whole communities, the entire country.

Legislation to prevent these deaths stalls in committee. The NRA lobbies vigorously. Children continue to die. Drive-by shootings take youngster after youngster.

There is only one solution to this problem, and that is education. Children must be taught about guns and other weapons in the early grades, before they come home from school to find a rifle in the living room.

You are probably just as likely to be injured or hurt at home than outside it. Take care.