Safety Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Oh My Heartsie Girl

August 7, 2019

Kids Will Be Kids: Safe Storage for Toxic Supplies and Substances

The term “kids will be kids” is a common one and used often to describe common situations where people expect kids to behave the way they did. Since kids are kids and curious by nature, it is important to know that you may find that your child explores areas of your home that you may use to keep prescriptions, chemicals, and other toxic chemicals. Because of this, you need to make sure that you keep these items safely stored and out of the reach of children.

If you are unsure of whether you should store medicine or chemical somewhere, get down on your child’s level and see if you can see or reach the item from there. If you can, it is not in a good place.

Below, we will talk about safe and helpful storage tips for all your toxic supplies and substances.

Common Toxic Chemicals in Your Home

The list below will show you some of the most common toxic chemicals that can be found inside your home. These chemicals include:

Motor oil, antifreeze, or other car chemicals
House paint
Bleach
Nail polish remover
Medicine or prescribed narcotics
Batteries
Insecticides and weed killers
Drain cleaners
Furniture cleaners
And more

Keeping Your Children Safe from Harmful Chemicals and Substances

All these chemicals pose a danger to your children and should always be kept out of their reach. If your child does get a hold of these items, he or she could be seriously injured or worse.

Follow these steps below to ensure a safe home and environment:

Keep all medications and prescribed narcotics away from your child, out of reach, and in a locked place. If you do keep these items in a cabinet, lock the cabinets. You can also store medications and substances in a safe
Always place alcohol out of the reach of children. You could store liquor and alcohol on top of the fridge, so as the child cannot reach it, even if they were to stand on a chair
Store all household cleaners including drain cleaners and bleach in a high cabinet or behind a locked cabinet door. This way, your child cannot access the chemicals
NEVER leave toxic chemicals or substances open or unattended when there is a child around. Always supervise the chemicals you are using
Make sure you hide all personal items that can be poisonous such as nail polish remover, hair spray, and more

Pro Tip: If you do use a lock and it does not require a key, never allow the children to see how you unfasten the lock as they can easily learn to do it themselves.

Create a Safe Environment in Your Home

Your child’s safety is number one and you should keep all chemicals and toxic substances away from them. Even if you store these items in the garage, like most people, you want to ensure that each item is kept out of the reach of a child.

As a final note, most chemicals and medications come with a child lock on them but not all do, so be vigilant.
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Related:
4 Things at Home That Might Need Immediate Attention
Five Ways to Make the Kitchen Safer for Your Children
Household Cleaners Without Chemicals
This post may contain affiliate links and it is a way for the site to earn advertising fees and I might receive compensation at no additional cost to you if you click on an affiliate link.

March 24, 2019

Five Ways to Make the Kitchen Safer for Your Children

There is probably plenty of childproofing advice you already know about what it comes to making the kitchen safer for kids, especially if you have very little ones. You need to secure all the cabinets, and you should shorten cords so curious hands don’t pull smaller appliances off the counter.

But, what if you have toddlers and older kids? The kitchen is still the most dangerous room in your home!

You should be thinking about kitchen safety for years after your child is born. These tips will ensure your child stays safe in the kitchen for many years to come.

Use Child Safety Locks on Appliances

You should lock all the cabinets, but what about the appliances? Children who are old enough, and tall enough, to reach them may think they’re ready to give them a try, but that doesn’t mean they should!

It’s a good idea to use safety locks on appliances as well as cabinets. That includes using safety locks on the fridge, the oven, and childproof knobs on the stove.

In some cases, you may be able to find appliances with this safety feature built in. For example, you can find a modern stainless steel microwave with a child safety lock included, so there’s no need to install one.

Use the Back Burners on the Stove

If you have children who are allowed in the kitchen, especially while you’re cooking, they could be in danger. Even a few teens whisking through the kitchen after school can be at risk of getting burnt on the stove if it’s on and they aren’t paying attention to what they are doing.

If you’re cooking with kids around, and especially if you’re cooking something that needs to simmer on the stove for a while, you should use the back burners.

That might take some adjusting. Strangely, most adults prefer the lower right burner, especially if you have an electric stove with a larger burner in that spot. But, if you want to prevent accidents, you should use the rear two burners.

Remove the Handles from Old Refrigerators

Have an old refrigerator hanging around? It isn’t uncommon for old fridges to linger in the kitchen or the garage days, weeks, and even years after a new one has been installed.

That can cause trouble for young children. They may open the door, crawl inside, and find they are unable to get back out. That’s why you should always remove the handles from old refrigerators as soon as they are unplugged.

Don’t like the handles on your refrigerator? They are easy to switch out! It’s an easy way to get rid of dirty or damaged handles, but you can also choose a kid-friendly replacement.

Be Careful What You Put in the Dishwasher

The dishwasher is one thing that little ones can help with. Even very young children can help you remove items from the dishwasher and put them away!

However, how you load the dishwasher, and the items they put away, can put them at risk of injury.

A few tips for loading the dishwasher so it’s safe for your child include:

Place glass items on the top shelf, out of reach
Never place sharp knives with the rest of the silverware
Open and shut the door for your child
Store the detergent in an upper cabinet in the kitchen

Give Them a Chance to Practice in the Kitchen

At what age do you think it’s safe to give a child a knife? Most would guess in the double digits, but did you know it’s actually better to give young children the chance to practice slicing and dicing?

The best way to ensure your child is safe in the kitchen is to teach them how to be safe in the kitchen! That includes teaching them how to use a knife to cut items, but it includes other things too. It means showing them how the burners work, letting them help you prepare a meal that goes in the oven, and asking them to retrieve items from the refrigerator. The more practice your kid gets in the kitchen, the more confident you can be about leaving them unattended.

The kitchen can be a dangerous place for your child, but it doesn’t have to be! It can be a great place for your child to learn new skills, as long as you follow these tips for making it a safe place while they are growing up.

November 11, 2018

5 Simple Ways to Understand Your Legal Rights When Injured at Work

Everyone should be able to do their work safely. Even if your job requires you to work in the vicinity of hazardous material or equipment, you should be given equipment, tools, and guidelines that will keep you from harm. Most employers understand this and take measures to ensure the health and safety of their employees. Other companies are not so rigorous, and this puts their people at risk.

If you have been injured on the job, you should make a claim for worker’s compensation. But before you do anything, you need to hire a lawyer. You want an attorney from a workers compensation law firm. They will have the knowledge and skill to get you through the process with as little trouble as possible.

You should not assume that your company and its insurer have your best interests at heart. No matter how friendly and kindly they may seem after the accident their priority is to minimize the impact of your accident on their bottom line.

When it comes down to it, you can only depend on yourself and your will to be fairly treated. Here are 5 simple ways to understand your legal rights when injured at work:

You have a right to make a claim

Do not allow anyone to dissuade you from making a claim. Indeed, the very moment you are injured you should report it to your supervisor. You may also need to advise the human resources department of the incident. Different companies have different policies regarding this, so you should check your worker manual for the exact instructions.

Once you have alerted the company to your injury, you should hire a lawyer and file a claim for worker’s compensation. As mentioned above, the basis for this claim is straightforward. Every company is legally obligated to protect the health and safety of their employees. When they fail to live up to this expectation, they must be held accountable.

You have a right to be properly compensated

If you are injured, you will need to go to the hospital for treatment. If your injury is severe enough, you may need to be hospitalized for some time. This will lead to a loss of wages and the addition of medical bills to your monthly expenses. Even after you are released from the hospital, you may need to go through a process of rehabilitation and spend more time at home recovering. Your injury may permanently degrade your ability to perform as you used to. This can force you into a lower paying position or mean that you cannot work as many hours as before.

You should not have to bear the stress and strain of such changes alone, especially when the accident was not your fault. The people whose job it was to protect you as you carried out your work must be held accountable.

You have a right to fair treatment

Your employer cannot demote, harass, or otherwise mistreat you just because you make a claim against them. If you believe your employer is retaliating against you because you have made a claim, then you can sue them. Such a lawsuit can be made in addition to your worker’s comp claim. It is illegal for employers to engage in such behavior. They know it, and you should remind them of their obligations and responsibilities toward you with a lawsuit.

You have a right to an attorney

Your employer may try to persuade you that the accident and the injury it caused can all be dealt with in-house; that you can trust them, their insurers, and their legal team to sort it all out and compensate you fairly. Don’t believe it. Your company will put its own interests first. You must retain counsel that will do the same for you.

A lawyer who specializes in worker’s compensation cases can be useful in many ways. First, they can ensure that you complete the forms for the claim properly. The paperwork is not always straightforward, and a great many worker’s compensation claims are rejected owing to an administrative error on the part of the claimant. A worker’s comp lawyer will ensure that the application you submit is flawless. They can also anticipate any possible objections made by the company’s insurer and be at hand to respond to them.

You also want a lawyer present for the accident investigation. The main aim of insurance companies is to minimize the amount of money they have to pay to claimants. To this end, they maintain an army of claims investigators who will look for ways to get the insurance company off the hook. Your lawyer will be able to bring in their own investigative team. They will be able to review the evidence and conclusion of the company’s insurers so as to verify the validity of their results. This will all be done to make sure you get the money you deserve.

You have a right to your own doctor

The company will want you to be looked at by their doctor. You should accede to this request. Otherwise, they will say that you are not really injured and deny your claim. However, you have a right to be examined by your own doctor. In fact, you should go to your medical provider first. Their initial findings on the nature and severity of your injury will be crucial to your claim for worker’s compensation. You should tell your doctor that you were injured at work and describe to them your actions and movements before the accident.

These are 5 basic rights you have as an injured worker. You should not allow anyone to limit them or persuade you to abandon them at any point. Your injury could put you in dire financial straits; it could also have a tremendous effect on your ability to earn a living. Your employer must be made to carry out their responsibilities toward you; they must be held accountable for the accident and all that follows from it.

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August 16, 2018

Security and Usage of the Internet For Your Childs Security

How Parental Controls Can Enhance Your Child’s Internet Security

Over the years the internet has revolutionized a lot which has provided its users with many options to explore it for different uses. You can find any piece of information you want in an instant without any hassle. This advanced technology and massive collection of data on the internet undoubtedly increases the rate at which internet is used. But as everyone knows, excessive use of anything could be dangerous; and the internet is no different. While online, you will most possibly not be notified about your personal information leak, and because these things happen in an instant, you may not get a chance to back up your data. Everyone who works in the field of information technology and is mature enough to understand how things work can easily identify online threats and warnings. Kids, however, are not aware of these issues, and frequently become a victim of these threats which then causes trouble for their parents. Kids should be educated about these online threats, but even before that, they should have limited access to the internet for their and your own safety. Security and Usage of the Internet For Your Childs Security

What are Parental Controls?

As humans, it is in our nature to explore new things, and when it comes to kids, they seem to be even more eager at discussing and learning new things. Parental controls are tools and methods that allow parents to control how their kids use the internet. It is a great way to prevent children from accessing any inappropriate content online. These controls can be set up on devices, networks or specific applications. Usually, parents set these controls on their child’s devices which include smartphones, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. Parents can set a level of security they desire. Internet Service and Parental Controls

Internet Service and Parental Controls

Usually, you have to buy or install parental control software to ensure the internet security of your children, but there are some internet services such as Charter Spectrum who are providing these services free of cost. Most cable internet services have the feature of parental controls installed on it. Some internet services have a web page where you can personalize the checklist of your parental controls for your in-home devices. My cable internet provider gives me the access to apply parental controls on the router or hub meaning when a device connects to it, and I have the liberty to check the type of content viewed on that device.

Types of Parental Controls

There are multiple types of parental controls available which can protect your children from accessing unsuitable content.

Network controls are applied to the connecting device which could be a router or a hub. These controls check every device connected to the internet and only provide the level of access allowed by parents.
Device level controls are set on your kid’s devices such as smartphones and tablets. Regardless of where they connect to the internet, these controls will apply on their device.
Application level controls apply to specific applications like YouTube and Google. These apps contain different types of content, and some of it is not suitable for your children, which is where this type of control comes in handy.

Safe Internet Browsing For Your Family

It is always a better idea to add up parental controls for your children’s safety, however, as long as you don’t educate them about the harmful effects of the internet, it is still a loss. Teach your children to access social media for a limited time. Explore different technical and educational movies to help them increase their intellectual level and tell them to spend more time with people rather than gadgets. In addition to parental controls, listed below are some measures you should take to help your children stay away from unwanted content on the internet.

Install an anti-virus program which can protect the system from viruses and online threats.
Turn on firewall protection to prevent unauthorized access.

Keep a web advisory tool for browsing protection to avoid risk