As consumers, we purchase a wide variety of products that are used in and around our homes. Cleaners, cosmetics, medications, pesticides, and house plants are among the most common.  Because many of these items are commonplace, they are often overlooked as substances that could, if misused, cause illness, injury, and even death.

Each year, two million poisonings are reported to the 61 poison control centers in the U.S. More than 90% of these poisonings occur in the home.  It can happen to anyone at any time. Unintentional poisonings can, however, be prevented. While child-resistant latches on cabinets and child-resistant caps on medications have decreased the incidents of poisonings, there are still many other poison hazards in your home. Reduce the likelihood of a poisoning occurring in your home by making sure you do the following:

• Check under the sink and in cabinets for stored products that could be hazardous. These include drain cleaners, ammonia, detergents and floor cleaners. Store these products in their original containers to avoid mistaking the contents for another product and to ensure the label instructions for use and storage are with the product. Install safety latches on all cabinet doors where these products are stored to keep toddlers out.
• Keep household items and food stored separately to avoid confusion.
• Keep personal care items such as hair spray, cologne, perfumes, and nail polish remover where children cannot get them.
• Use child-resistant caps and keep medication lids tightly closed.
• Avoid taking medication in front of a child, or referring to pills as candy.
• Never throw medication in the trash.  Instead, dispose of unused or expired medications down the drain or toilet.
• Keep rodent and insect traps out of reach.
• Keep pesticides in a locked cabinet or in a garden shed and never unattended when using them.
• Wipe up all spills and puddles in the garage, carport, basement, or utility areas.
• Familiarize yourself with all the plants you have in and around the house. Some are poisonous to the touch such as poison ivy while others are poisonous if ingested.
• Maintain working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

Keep the number to Central Ohio Poison Center, 1-800-222-1222, posted near the telephone. Have the original container and its label available when you call. Approximately one million phone calls are placed to Poison Control Centers annually by adults seeking help when children have swallowed something harmful.

For more information, consult www.poisonprevention.org.

“Line of Duty” Author: Fire Marshal Alan Perkins, CFPS, is a 32-year veteran of the fire service. A Certified Fire Protection Specialist through the National Fire Protection Association and a member of several similar safety organizations. Perkins is the Fire Marshal for the Washington Township Fire Department, Dublin, Ohio. For more information, contact: Leslie Dybiec, Public Information Officer Phone: (614) 652-3928 Fax: (614) 766-2507 or ldybiec@wtwp.com.

Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making fire safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. LiveSafe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. LiveSafe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.