How Can I "babyproof" my wall heater?

Dana | Oct 30, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Recommend It!

Ask The Safety Guy

Kacie from Saratoga asks: How can I “baby-proof” my wall heater?

As we enter the winter season, many families realize that their heater is a safety issue for their infant/toddler children. Depending upon their design, heaters may get very hot to the touch and may have very sharp edges that can easily cut probing little fingers. The need to and options for “baby-proofing” heaters depends upon their design and location.

Gas wall heaters range from one to five feet tall. Both temperature and sharp edges can be an issue. These can be “baby-proofed” by providing a barrier that will not create a fire hazard. Although an off-the-shelf solution does not exist for these, a Configure Gate from KidCo can be effective if sufficient space is available. You will want to have the gate at least 18 inches away from the heater such that your child cannot reach through the Configure Gate to the heater.

When space is limited, parents have also used fireplace screens, secured to the wall on either side of the heater, to keep little hands away. The screens should have a tight mesh, sturdy and taller than your child’s reach. Home centers usually have something that will work. Attaching it to the wall may be a little tricky, but using cable ties and screwed eyelets may do the trick.

Electric baseboard heaters are a little trickier because of their length. Radiant Wraps, LLC makes a retrofit cover system that reduces the opening size and surface temperature while improving the aesthetics. Remove the temperature control knobs by pulling outward when not in use as toddlers love to turn dials.

Floor heaters can be the trickiest of all as they are typically centrally located in a high traffic area of the home. If near a wall, the barrier approach used for wall heaters may work. If not, a custom box cover may be necessary. A cover can be fabricated to fit over the grate and secured to the floor. Ideally, a noncombustible material would be used for the box, but wood or plastic can be used of adequate spacing and ventilation is provided. A somewhat industrial looking, but cost effective solution is achieved by taking a large irrigation control valve box (available at a landscaping supply house) and drilling dozens of one inch diameter holes in the top and sides. It can then be secured to the floor with two small screws or adhesive backed Velcro.

Finally, most homes in our area have central heating from a gas furnace distributed through ducts and vents in each room. Extreme temperatures at the vents are unusual; however, make sure that floor vents cannot be readily removed. The sheet metal ducts can have sharp edges and can conceivably be entrapment hazards. Loose vents can be screwed to the floor to prevent toddler access.

For folks using fireplaces or wood stoves as a heat source, stay tuned, as I will address the associated hazards and solutions in a future column.

Again, if you are making a custom barrier solution, be sure to maintain adequate spacing and ventilation to ensure you do not create a fire hazard. While you are at, change the furnace filter and make sure your Carbon Monoxide monitor has fresh batteries.

Submit your questions to pros@homesafety.net. Martin Simenc, The Safety Guyâ, is the President of Home Safety Services, Inc., the Bay Area’s largest and highest rated baby proofing company.
They can be reached at 1-888-388-3811.

child safety, childproofing, injury prevention (all tags)

Ask The Safety Guy: As a renter, how much do I babyproof?

Dana | Aug 16, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Baby Talk

Heather from San Francisco asks:

As a renter, how much can/should I babyproof?

I am frequently asked this important question, and my answer varies depending upon the age of your baby and the estimated length of your stay. Notice I did not say that it depends upon your landlord or the type of home you are renting. From the perspective of creating a safe environment for your child, age and length of stay should be the driving forces.

The age of your baby is a critical factor as the hazards evolve as a child grows. Parents of a newborn who will be moving out in seven or eight months, probably do not have to do much baby proofing. However, parents of a one year-old that will be staying eight or nine months should probably do a lot. The reason being that many of the greatest dangers (hazards combined with a toddler's increased mobility) present themselves during this period. A severe injury is the same whether it occurs while renting or owning, so it behooves us as parents to do what we can to prevent one from occurring.

The length of stay may also impact the level of baby proofing undertaken. For example, latching cabinets is an essential safety precaution for any toddler, but a simpler latch (i.e. Gerber) may be used if the family will move prior to the child reaching say eighteen months of age.

Parents are occasionally hesitant to use hardware mounted gates when in a rental situation. I strongly encourage them to rethink their reluctance for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if done properly, installing a gate creates screw holes no larger than those required to hang a picture and are readily repairable. Additionally, due to recent product developments, screw holes in finished wood surfaces are rarely necessary (see last month's column). Secondly, a pressure mounted gate is simply inappropriate for top of stair applications (even by the manufacturer's instructions), so using a hardware mounted gate is absolutely necessary for any multi-level rentals.

Finally, the spirit of the California Fair Housing Act would support a tenant's right to make reasonable accommodations to enhance the safety of her family. Thus, although landlords may not be thrilled to have you do some baby proofing, legally they cannot discriminate against you for having a baby nor should they dissuade you from creating a safe home environment for your family.

Submit your questions to pros@homesafety.net. Martin Simenc, The Safety Guy, is the President of Home Safety Services, Inc., the Bay Area’s largest and highest rated baby proofing company. They can be reached at 1-888-388-3811. Previous columns can be viewed at www.homesafety.net.

child safety, childproofing, injury prevention (all tags)

Child Safety - Furniture Bracing

Dana | May 26, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Baby Talk

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Kacey from San Jose asks: Which pieces of furniture should I brace to the wall, and how should I do so?

Last month, I answered the first half of this important question. I described which items should be secured to prevent a climbing toddler or an earthquake from toppling them. In the meantime, the CDC came out with an updated report on the frequency and severity of toppling furniture related childhood injuries. Per the report, roughly 15,000 children are injured or killed each year by furniture and appliances (i.e. televisions) toppling upon them. So, now that we have agreed upon the importance of bracing and which items should be braced, I will address how to do so.

Regardless of the type of hardware used, it is critically important that it be secured to the framing members (or studs) of your home. Most homes in our area have sheetrock or plaster over wood studs. Anchoring a piece of furniture only to the sheetrock or plaster will not provide sufficient strength to hold under stress. Hence, always be sure to locate the studs with a stud finder and make sure you hit the studs when installing a brace. It is equally important that the screws secured into the furniture are into a solid frame member as well and not just into a particle board backing.

There are several different types of hardware available to brace furniture. The simplest is an angle bracket. Available at any hardware store, screwing a pair of these “L” shaped brackets to the top of a piece of furniture and through the sheetrock to the wall studs provides excellent anchorage. Angle brackets work very well for tall bookcases that rest against the wall. They are not as appropriate for shorter furniture or for those that rest an inch or more away from the wall.

Shorter pieces with a finished top surface should be anchored from the back. This way the hardware will not be visible, and the furniture will not be damaged. My current favorite hardware for this application is a vinyl strap product available from safebeginnings.com. It is very secure, versatile and easy to install Other vinyl strap type products use Velcro and double sided tape connections are more widely available but are inferior. Bracing furniture from the backside is more time consuming, but the improved aesthetics are worth it.

Some folks hesitate to brace antiques and heirlooms, fearing damage or depreciation due to drilling holes to secure the hardware. However, if properly anchored from the unfinished backside of the furniture, the value will not be diminished. Furthermore, consider how much more valuable the piece will be if it survives the next earthquake without toppling.

China cabinets, desk and shelf combinations, and entertainment centers are often built as separate sections stacked on top of each other. It is very important to first brace the two sections together (using a flat joint bracket or mending plate on the backside) prior to bracing the top section to the wall.

Finally, as I mentioned last time, televisions also need to be securely braced. For table top flat screens, SafetyFirst makes a good wall mount anchor. For traditional tube televisions, I recommend using the Big Screen and Appliance Strap from QuakeHold (available at most home centers). Alternatively, you can use long lengths of industrial-sized Velcro with an adhesive strip on one side (available at Home Depot). Be sure to thoroughly clean the side surfaces of the TV with alcohol prior to applying the adhesive and then screw the other ends of the Velcro into the wall studs.

Living in earthquake country with young children in the house, there is really no excuse for not having our furniture properly braced.

child safety, childproofing, emergency preparedness (all tags)

Ask The Safety Guy - furniture bracing - how and what to do?

Dana | May 04, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Baby Talk

Kacey from San Jose asks:

Which pieces of furniture should I brace to the wall and how can I do so?

Many parents overlook the hazard associated with the potential toppling of furniture. Living in California, we need to protect against both earthquakes and climbing children that cause furniture to topple and potentially cause serious injury.

The obvious pieces to brace are the tall and narrow bookcases. Unfortunately, a lot of parents stop at this point, not recognizing other equal or greater hazards. Shorter and apparently more stable pieces should also be secured, especially if they are climbable and especially if they have drawers.

Dressers, even relatively short ones, will readily topple if a toddler opens the drawers and climbs up the ladder-like steps. Shorter bookcases, changing tables, grandfather clocks, armoires and china cabinets should be secured in most cases. Stacked units, such as desk and shelf units, two-piece china cabinets and entertainment centers are particularly prone to toppling in earthquakes unless they are properly secured.

Technically, anything that is taller than it is wide can topple. However, a good rule of thumb is that if a piece of furniture is more than twice as tall as it is deep, it should probably be braced. Heavy objects such as armoires, entertainment centers, and china cabinets are not immune from this recommendation. Although your child may not climb on or pull these pieces over, a strong earthquake may.

Televisions warrant special attention. In many homes, the televisions have gotten bigger and bigger while the television stand has remained the same size. A large TV on a modest stand can readily topple, especially when an excited child watching their favorite video shakes or pulls on the TV or stand. Unfortunately, several children are killed or severely injured each year when TVs topple, thus TVs should also be braced or secured in a large cabinet.

Occasionally, parents are reluctant to brace an antique or heirloom piece, as they are concerned that bracing it will cause damage or reduce its value. Neither concern is valid since you can typically brace the furniture from behind without marring any of the finished surfaces, and the small screw holes that are required are insignificant relative to the damage and danger caused if the piece topples in an earthquake.

Now that we have identified which pieces of furniture should be braced, next time I will discuss the techniques and products for securely bracing them to the walls in your home.

Submit your questions to pros@homesafety.net. Martin Simenc, The Safety Guy, is the President of Home Safety Services, Inc., the Bay Area’s largest and highest rated baby proofing company. They can be reached at 1-888-388-3811 or www.homesafety.net.

child safety, injury prevention (all tags)

Require Mom of Octuplets to Make Safety Modifications?

Dana | Mar 23, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Recommend It!

Ask The Safety Guy

Mari from Brentwood asks: Isn’t it excessively intrusive to require the mother of the octuplets to make safety modifications before being allowed to bring her babies home?

This is a serious question that came from a reporter doing a story for radaronline.com. She, as the mother of two who had done some babyproofing for her own children, felt that it was an intrusion to require Nadya (mother of the octuplets) to complete a short list of safety modifications. Not surprisingly, I could not disagree with her more strongly.

Apparently, a social worker’s report required floor and table lamps to be removed, bunk beds to be relocated away from windows, window coverings to be cord-free, barricading a fireplace and protection for an upstairs’ balcony. These “requirements”, I informed her, are really just best practices for households with even one or two children. In this case, apparently fourteen children under the age of six will be in a single household!

Most of us cannot fathom having so many little ones. Yet, it is frightening that as we can all empathize with the burden of parenting and providing for them, some of us do not appreciate the importance of assuring their safety. The concern for their safety transcends any moral judgment of the mother and how she got to this point. My comments herein would be the same if this were a day-care facility housing the same number of unrelated children. Even with constant supervision (that I would hope to be at least four caregivers at all times), there is much more that the social worker could have and probably should have required.

Preventing access to cabinets and electrical outlets and securing furniture to the wall are other basic things that will hopefully be addressed. The most significant hazard that was not mentioned was the need to prevent the upstairs windows from opening more than four inches. This is often easily accomplished with a simple latching device that an adult can override in the event of an emergency.

As any parent of multiples will attest, hazards in the home are all magnified when multiple little ones can “conspire” together to get in to trouble.

Probably the most onerous of the requirements was to rebuild the interior stairs so as to close the open risers (backs of the stairs). These are no longer code compliant as a child may either fall through or become entrapped in the openings. Again, this is something that should be addressed in any home.

I am glad to report that by the end of our interview, the reporter appeared to come around to realize that none of the “requirements” were excessive and all of them were in the best interest of the children. It is my hope that all of you will similarly advocate for the safety and well-being of children in your community by encouraging your neighbors, friends, parents, in-laws and grandparents to take the practical and proven steps to reduce the risk of injury at home.

Submit your questions to pros@homesafety.net. Martin Simenc, The Safety Guy, is the President of Home Safety Services, Inc., the Bay Area’s largest and highest rated safetyfitting company. They can be reached at 1-888-388-3811 or at www.homesafety.net. The Safety Guy is a registered trademark of Home Safety Services, Inc.Copyright 2009.

safety, child safety, home safety (all tags)

How do I convince my child's grandparents to babyproof their home

Dana | Mar 02, 2009 | 1 | Posted in Baby Talk

Ask The Safety Guy

Haley from Los Altos asks:

How do I convince my baby’s grandparents to babyproof their home?

I often hear this lament from clients, and it can be a real challenge to overcome. Let’s face it. Our parents raised us without many of the safety precautions that are generally accepted as the norm today. They survived without seatbelts and smoke detectors not to mention advances such as bike helmets and airbags. Although we cannot imagine a life without some of these, it is understandable that our parents may not appreciate the necessity for say a toilet latch. Your challenge is to empathize with your parents’ reluctance, but also to succeed in getting them to make some safety modifications.

Many grandparents have the mindset that their children survived just fine without extensive babyproofing, why should they do anything differently for their grandchildren. To their defense, most grandparents are not aware of how many children didn’t survive in their time. Whether by drowning in unfenced swimming pools, poisoning from unsecured chemicals or medications, strangling in dangling window cords or falling from balconies or windows, news and statistics of such tragedies were not tracked or communicated as efficiently then as they are today.

So, after empathizing with their reservations, how do we move toward making changes? You have several strategies from which to choose including the use of logic, guilt, an ultimatum or just doing it for them.

Logic – Do some research regarding the particular hazard(s) with which you are most concerned and present some statistical evidence. For example, if they are reluctant to fence their pool, let them know that drowning is the leading cause of preschooler accidental deaths in California and 75% of preschoolers that drown were missing for less than five minutes. You can even mention that a toddler recently drowned in a matter of minutes at her grandparent’s home in Woodside in a fountain (ironically while the mother was installing a carseat).

Guilt – That’s right. Your parents are expert at making you feel guilty; this is your opportunity to turn the table on them. Simply making reference to how badly you would feel for them if a tragic accident occurred at their home, especially one that could have readily been prevented.

Ultimatum – If your parents refuse to address critical hazards, frankly, it is your responsibility as a parent to not leave your child there. Many grandparents respond favorably when they realize that the safer their home is, the more time they will get to spend with their grandchildren.

Just Do It – Take the initiative and get it done. Do it yourself at your expense. Your parents may not buy-in to the need, but they will often allow it to be done if they don’t have to do it themselves. Alternatively, you can hire a professional to do it for them. Doing so has the additional benefit of bringing an objective and expert perspective to the table and a guarantee that the work will be done in a professional and expeditious manner.

child safety, childproofing, grandparents, home (all tags)