Children love to explore – it’s what they do best and how they discover the world around them. And exploring is great – but not when it comes to electricity. There are lots of things you can do to childproof the electrical outlets within your home to ensure that you minimise the risk of your child hurting themselves.
Check Leads And Wires For Electrical Damage
This is an obvious precautionary task to do, but it often slips a lot of parents minds. When children are young and crawling around your home, they have easy access to any electrical wiring that could be on the floor or loose from any of your appliances. When fiddled with or, worst case scenario, chewed through (!) these wires become highly dangerous, they can cause damage to your appliance and in worst case scenario could cause potential electrocution to your child.
To avoid any of these events, you should regularly inspect all the devices and cables and wires you may have in your home and discard any of the ones that look old or damaged. One of our certified electricians in Sussex can carry out a full risk assessment and safety proofing in your home if you’re concerned or not quite sure how to do it yourself.
House Cables In Out of Reach Places
You can check all the appliances in your home, and they may be all working fine, but some cables are a danger to children regardless of their working condition. Technology such as computers have plugs located on the back of them that can be removed by simply pulling them out, and if a child was to put this in their mouth, there is the potential of electrocution. Another option is to put any cables or wires that you regularly use in a place that your children would not be able to reach.
One option is to rearrange your room and see if you can make any wires out of the scope to your child, if you cannot you should consider placing any dangerous cables behind heavy furniture that ensures your child cannot access them. Or you can invest in a new desk that’s hard to access from the back and so that you can place all the wires closer to the wall.
Turn Off Electrical Appliances At The Wall When Out Of Use
Not only will this make your home environment safer for your child, but in the long run it can save you a lot of money on your energy bills. You should turn off all kitchen appliances when not being used and make sure they’re out of reach as children are known to be amazing climbers and can pull whole appliances down if they get hold of a wire.
Make sure you unplug all electrical appliances such as irons, hair straighteners or shavers and keep them well away from water.
Make Certain Rooms Inaccessible
Keep rooms that you wouldn’t necessarily want your child to play in out of bounds. Rooms such as offices, garages and utility rooms seem harmless but can actually be a dangerous environment for your child if not protected correctly. And a locked door isn’t always enough to keep a child out if they’re interested what’s inside.
Child Proof Your Extensions Leads
Extensions leads are usually on the floor and contain a different variety of colourful cords and plugs that your child could see as a really fun play toy. You should cover these up as not only are they easy to access but plugs are usually relatively straightforward to remove from extensions leads. Consider investing in a device such as a childproof power strip cover – these devices are like a cage for your extensions lead, and they are child locked so that your baby cannot access them. They are also available to be wall mounted to keep out of reach from your child, and you have the ability to adjust their size.
Extensions leads were designed to be portable when carrying out tasks such as hoovering to make the job easier, but they have become a regular appliance in people’s homes and being used due to the fact there aren’t enough plug sockets around the home. If this is the case in your home, one of our certified Brighton electricians can fit your home with more electrical outlets around your home that are safer, and easier to babyproof than extensions leads.
Invest in Plug Socket Protectors
All English plug sockets by law have to be protected from the ability of an object to be entered inside of them. Children have a way of attempting to play with or do things that are highly dangerous, like putting their fingers in a plug socket. Socket Protectors are available online and in any homeware/DIY shop for incredibly low prices and are designed to deter children from playing with plug sockets.
That sounds like a lot to do – is it going to be expensive to childproof electrical outlets?
No, it isn’t expensive at all. It’s mostly a matter of assessing the electrical outlets in your home and applying an inexpensive fix to those which could pose a hazard. You can get anything on Amazon these days and some shops sell bundles of home child proofing kits which contain lots of ways to make your home safer. Childproofing your home in advance will prevent the echo of ‘don’t touch that!’ around the house and will give you peace of mind that your little ones are safe.
Summary
So there you have the easiest and most efficient ways to babyproof your home from your little ones. Electricity is dangerous to adults as well, and you should never attempt to fix or replace any electrical outlets if you have no experience. One of our certified electricians in Brighton will be more than happy to assist you – just call us today to book in an assessment and safety check.
If you need a professional opinion with any of the above, call me today on 07917 181068 or contact me for a quote. Even if just for a second opinion, it’s always better to be safe and consult one of our fully qualified Brighton electricians. Good luck in child safety proofing your home!
