The following is an excerpt from Safety First: Preventing & Managing Childhood Injuries.

Home Safety Check: [A Learning Activity]

Purpose
For This Activity You Will Need
Trainer Preparation Note
Points to Consider
Handout: Home Safety Check

Purpose: This activity helps staff gain skill in helping families to improve the safety of their homes. It is particularly useful for home visitors.

For this activity you will need:

• Handout: Home Safety Checklist (3 copies per participant)
• Thermometers (extending from below 0 degree F. to above 120 degrees F.), tape measures
• Pens or pencils

Coach's Note:

This activity involves an initial session of 30 to 60 minutes, then two home visits, and a follow-up session of approximately 30 minutes.

For more information about environmental safety, see the Health guide, Sustaining a Healthy Environment.

Step 1: Explain that this activity develops skill in helping families to make their homes safer-the environment and behaviors.

Step 2: Ask participants:

• What have you observed on home visits that make you concerned for any family member's safety?
• What has been your experience in discussing home safety with families?
• Have you ever used a safety checklist on home visits?
• What are the advantages of using a checklist?
• What concerns do you have about using a checklist?

Step 3: Distribute three copies of Handout: Home Safety Checklist to each participant. Explain that this checklist can be used as a guide for important safety features according to location in the home.

Take up to 10 minutes to review the entire checklist together. For each safety feature, ask participants:

• How is it checked or measured?
• Why is it important?
• What type of injury does it prevent?

Step 4: Ask participants:

• How could you incorporate the Home Safety Checklist into a home visit?
• What could you do to help families feel comfortable and successful with the Home Safety Checklist?

Step 5: Imagine that you go on a home visit and take the Home Safety Checklist. Imagine that you and the family find many safe items, but one item in each room is a safety concern. Select which ones.

Do a brief role-play with the coach or among participants demonstrating how you would discuss the home safety check with the parent. Make sure that every participant has an opportunity to play the home visitor and the parent.

Step 6: Tell participants to use one copy of Handout: Home Safety Checklist to check their own home first. Ask them to observe how long that takes, what is easy and hard about going through the checklist, and how it feels to identify safety weaknesses as well as strengths.

Step 7: Next, have participants use the other two copies of the Home Safety Checklist on a home visit with a Head Start family.

• First ask the parents what safety concerns they have had.
• Give the parents a copy of the checklist. Briefly review the entire checklist and discuss why each safety feature is important.
• Ask them if they prefer to do the checklist on their own or with your assistance.

Step 8: If the parents choose to complete the checklist on their own, plan a follow-up visit to review the completed Home Safety Checklist with them within the next month.

If the parents choose to have your assistance at this visit, complete the checklist together, having them identify the safety concerns.

Step 9: Review the completed Home Safety Checklist with the family:

• First, focus on all of the “Yes” items. Congratulate the parents-these show that they protect the safety of their children in many ways.
• Then focus on the “No” items. Discuss with the family:
  • Why is this item important to prevent injuries?
  • Has any injury resulted from this item?
  • How urgent is this safety item?

Step 10: Have the parents identify which safety concerns they feel are most important. Help them to develop a safety improvement plan that includes what they need to make the improvement, who can help, and a realistic timeframe. Follow-up with the family on their safety improvement plan, as needed.

Step 11: After participants have completed the home visits, meet again with the coach to discuss the home safety check:

• What went well?
• What was difficult?
• What additional information and or resources were needed?
• How do you plan to follow-up with the family on the safety needs?

Points to Consider:

• Safety checklists can be helpful because they provide a systematic check of the environment and practices. When using checklists, Head Start staff should take care to avoid intimidating or overwhelming families and help them feel comfortable.
• Handout: Home Safety Checklist is designed to be short and simple and to help families feel more comfortable with the process. While the short checklist is a guide to some important home safety features, home visitors should also use their own knowledge and experience to counsel families about safety features that may not be on the checklist.
• Various strategies can be used to help families feel comfortable and successful with home safety. For example:
  • First develop trust with families, then discuss safety on a later visit.
  • To encourage the parents' acceptance, offer them a safety check rather than impose it on them.
  • Allow the parents to choose whether to complete the safety check on their own or with your assistance.
• Understanding the challenges to prevention can help to develop prevention strategies such as:
  • supporting the strengths in the situation
  • identifying the most necessary safety measures, clarifying why they're important, and suggesting simple low-cost steps to take
  • providing materials and offering to help make the safety improvements (e.g., smoke detectors, batteries, electrical outlet covers, Ipecac, thermometer, telephone emergency stickers, car seats)
  • identifying community resources that can help (e.g., lead abatement, tenants' rights organization, parental stress hotline)
  • following up with reminders and support for maintaining injury- prevention measure

Handout: Home Safety Checklist
Safety Item	Yes	No	Comments
General Household
Walls, floors, are in good repair and free of chipping paint.
Stairways have gates (for infants/toddlers) and handrails.
Windows have screens or guards.
Window shades don’t have dangling cords.
Fireplaces and heaters have protective screens.
A smoke detector is on each floor, tested monthly, and batteries changed yearly.
Everyone knows fire escape routes out of the house.
Electrical outlets have safety covers.
Pins, coins, nails, jewelry, plastic bags, balloons, and other chokable items are out of reach.
Cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, and alcohol are out of reach.
Infant walkers are not used.
Infants and young children are never left home alone or with anotheryoung child.
Children watch television less than two hours a day, and no violent shows.
Children are disciplined by positive guidance, not by belittling or hitting.
Firearms are separate from ammunition, locked up, and out of reach.
Emergency numbers are posted near the telephone.
Kitchen
Knives, glassware, and matches are out of reach.
Cleaning products are out of reach.
Pots on the stove have handles turned backward.
The high chair is sturdy with a safety strap.
Children under four are not fed chokable foods (e.g., hot dog rounds,
candy, nuts, popcorn, grapes, chunks of meat).
Bathroom
Medicines and vitamins are in original, child-proof containers.
Medicines, vitamins, cosmetics, mouthwash, and cleaning fluids are out of reach.
Ipecac is available for poisoning emergency.
Hair dryers and curling irons are unplugged and away from water.
Tap water temperature is 120° Fahrenheit or less.
Young children are never left alone in the bathtub.
Bedroom
Infants sleep in a crib, not on a waterbed, beanbag chair, sheepskin, pillow, or down comforter.
Infants are put to sleep on their backs.
Cribs have slats less than 2 3/8" apart, a tight fitting mattress, and no cornerposts or cut-outs.
Garage and Basement
Insect spray, fertilizer, weed killer, paint, gasoline, and other chemicals are in original containers and out of reach.
Sharp tools and electrical equipment are out of reach.
Outdoors
Balconies have protective railings.
The play yard is fenced in.
Pools, wells, hot tubs, and ponds are fenced on all sides.
Play equipment is in good repair, lower than six feet and over sand or wood chips, not concrete, dirt, or grass.
Children wear helmets when riding tricycles and bicycles.
Children are secured in car seats (up to 40 pounds and 4 years) and seat belts when riding in a car (in the back seat) or truck.