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Parents & Educators

 

How to poison-proof your home

Most poisonings happen in the home to children under the age of six. Poisonings can be prevented.

Here are some tips for poison-proofing your home:
  • Keep all household chemicals, cleaning products, medicines and cosmetics in locked cabinets.
  • Keep all products in their original containers.
  • Read labels before using a product and follow directions carefully.
  • Never mix household-cleaning products together.
  • Keep medicines out of sight of young children.
  • Take unused and expired medicines to your pharmacist to be thrown away.
  • Check to see if any of your house or garden plants are poisonous.
  • Make sure that the containers of strong chemicals and cleaning products are properly closed and locked away when you are finished using them.
  • If you leave the area you are working on with the chemical or cleaning product, take the container with you.
  • If someone is poisoned, save the container and bring it with you to the hospital.
  • Keep emergency numbers, including the Poison Control Centre, near all phones.
If your child is poisoned, follow these directions:

Be very careful not to taste, touch or breathe in the poison yourself.
If the person is not responding to you (unconscious), shaking and convulsing, or having trouble breathing or swallowing, call 911 immediately.

For swallowed poisons:
  • If the child is conscious, give sips of water.
  • DO NOT try to make them vomit, it may cause more harm.
  • Call the Poison Control Centre.
For poisons that are breathed in:
  • Move the child to fresh air.
  • Call the Poison Control Centre.
For poisons that get into the eye:
  • Rinse the eye with lukewarm water for 15 minutes.
  • Call the Poison Control Centre.
For poisons spilled on the skin:
  • Remove any clothing with any poison on it.
  • Rinse skin with cool water for 15 minutes.
  • Call Poison Control Centre.

 

 

Canada Safety Council