Furniture & Appliance Safety

Furniture and Appliance Childproofing Tips for Kids Safety

When it comes to childproofing your home, appliance and furniture safety is one area you need to consider. If you have a new baby or small children in your home, your top priority is keeping them safe. You do everything you can outside your home to make sure they’re protected, but what about inside your home?

Furniture can tip over, doors can close on little fingers and appliances can burn children. Statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 59 percent of tip-over injuries involved children under 18 years of age. Furthermore, they found that between 2009-2011 two-thirds of victims were ages 1 to 4 years old.

The CPSC also reports that in the U.S., a child is sent to the emergency room every 30 minutes as a result of falling furniture with 94% of child tip-over fatalities occurring in a residential setting.

Here are some general safety tips to keep in mind to ensure appliance and furniture child safety in your home:

●    Check for sharp edges and corners where children could injure themselves.
●    Secure all knobs and handles.
●    Seal off electrical outlets with safety plugs.
●    Use nonskid rugs.
●    Install safety latches on all cabinets.
●    Keep medications, chemicals, alcohol, and even kitchen spices out of children's reach.  
●    Use a child-resistant garbage can or keep your trash behind closed doors in a locked cabinet.
●    Dispose of plastic bags safely by tying each in a knot.

Important Tips on Kitchen Appliance Safety for Kids

While kitchens can be one of the most dangerous rooms in your home for children, with a few safety measures in place it can be a safe place for your entire family to enjoy. For young children, a kitchen is an exciting place and with a lot of things are going on out of your toddler's sight on counters and stoves, it is very tempting for them to satisfy their curiosity and see what’s going on.

Here's where the hazards can occur in a kitchen and how to minimize their risk:

Oven & Stove Safety Products

When it comes to your oven, it’s important to ensure your oven and stovetop burners are working correctly, and if they are gas, ensure there are no leaks. To avoid the risk of burns, use back burners whenever possible since one of the most common accidents happens when a child reaches up to grab a pot or pan and spills the contents over themselves. If you must use a front burner, be sure to turn all pot handles toward the back so they are out of reach. You should also install stove guards to prevent little hands from reaching for things that can harm them or from touching hot surfaces.

Install childproof covers on oven and stove knobs or remove knobs entirely from the stove so that burners and oven cannot be turned on easily by a child.

You should also check your oven for hot surfaces. Some ovens are poorly insulated which may allow the outside to get hot enough to cause burns. Check the door of your oven to ensure that when it’s on it's only warm, not hot, to the touch. If it becomes too hot, install a safety gate in the doorways leading to the kitchen whenever you have the oven on.

Finally, if you feel your oven may be prone to tipping, you can bolt the stove to the wall or install a furniture strap.

Refrigerator Safety Products

To prevent children from opening the fridge on their own, you should install a childproof door latch or refrigerator lock.  For added precaution in case you forget to use the fridge lock or if you are actively using the refrigerator, keep glass bottles and jars off easily accessible shelves and never store batteries or other inedible objects in the refrigerator. If you must store medication in the refrigerator, be sure it’s on the highest possible shelf and hidden in the back.

It’s also a good idea to remove refrigerator magnets since children can easily choke on small items.

Dishwasher Safety Products

A drawer lock is ideal for a dishwasher for added protection since they often contain items that can post an immediate danger to your children like knives. When placing sharp utensils in the dishwasher, make sure they are pointed downwards during the cycle, and remove them as soon as they are washed. You should also remove glass or other breakable items immediately after washing.

Home Furniture Safety Tips to Help Protect Your Children from Accidents

In-home tip-over tragedies are a real threat to kids the CPSC reports that falling televisions or a television plus furniture caused 18,900 (44%) injuries and 215 (62%) fatalities between 2009 and 2011. Injuries caused by television or furniture tip-overs can lead to injured internal organs, contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and fractures. In more severe cases, they can lead to fatalities due to if severe crushing, hitting or positional asphyxia occur to the head or torso. The horrible reality is that a child dies every two weeks as a result of falling televisions, furniture, or appliances.

This is why childproofing your home properly is so important, even if you feel as though your home is a safe place.

Furniture Safety Products

When it comes to furniture safety you should consider installing drawer latches on dressers or other furnishings since children often use drawers as makeshift ladders to climb on. The placement of shelves is also something to consider since your children can also use them to climb onto household furniture. Latches will keep these drawers closed and prevent little climbers from climbing. You may also want to consider purchasing baby-safety furniture for your child’s room that only allows one drawer to be opened at a time, to reduce the likelihood that furniture will tip over.
Additionally, any furniture or shelving that may be prone to tipping over should be secured with wall anchors or furniture wall straps. Televisions should be wall-mounted, or if it’s placed on top of furniture it should be secured with TV straps.

It’s best to purchase furniture that doesn’t have sharp corners, however, if this is unavoidable installing corner cushions for furniture like form corner bumpers.

Whether it is your first child or your fifth or more, keeping your home safe for your children can be done with the right furniture safety products.  

Make Your Home Safe for Children – Shop Appliance & Furniture Safety Products Today

Take preventative measures today to avoid the dangers furniture and appliances can pose to your children by installing the best child safety locks, knobs, and guards you can purchase online.

Our child safety experts are always available to answer any questions you may have about child safety products we are selling, questions about your purchase or on how to turn your home and backyard into a safe haven for your little ones.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What’s the best way to keep my children safe in my home?
While there’s no replacement for constant supervision of children in your home, it’s impossible for you to have an eye on them at all times. Childproofing involves a combination of supervision, teaching your children not to climb or hang from furniture or appliances and implementing the appropriate childproofing safety products.

What other safety measures should I keep in mind?
When loading a dresser with personal items put the heavier items in the lower drawers to act as a weight for the furniture. Placing heavy objects up higher create more of a tipping risk. It’s also important that you avoid putting heavy items or items that might attract your children to climb on furniture, such as toys, plants, and even remotes.

What are the benefits of corner cushions for furniture?
Furniture corner cushions are easy to install on any table, chair, coffee table, couch, and other furniture items around your home. They help protect young children from hurting themselves around the house.

Are corner cushions easy to install?
Yes! Corner cushions are simple to install. Simply add them to your piece of furniture by inserting it into the corner areas. When it’s time to remove, simply take the corner cushions away.

Where do I install stove knob covers?
Add the stove knob covers where the knob goes. Simply attach it over and then once you click, your stove knob covers will successfully protect any young children from accidentally turning on the stove!

Are stove knob covers safe and smart to use for my young children?
Yes! Stove knobs will help keep children from turning the knobs on or off and cause any harmful fire accidents.

Can stove knob covers go in the dishwasher?
You can simply remove the stove knob covers and add them to the top rack of the dishwasher.  Afterwards, you can re-attach them to the stove!

What’s the best way to child proof my stove?
The best way to child proof your stove is to install stove knob covers and ensure no accidents can be caused by young children around the kitchen.

How do I remove my stove knob covers?
Just pull the stove knob covers off. Make sure the heat stays off.

How do I childproof my TV stand?
Install our KidCo Anti-Tip TV Strap to childproof your TV stand. With this TV stand, you won’t face the risk of having the TV fall or causing any harmful accidents around your children.

How do I childproof the furniture around my home?
We offer a wide variety of furniture and appliance child safety products. You can choose one of our furniture corner covers, furniture wall straps, and corner bumpers to keep your children safe.

How do I secure my new baby furniture?
To avoid injuries that could injure your children or young baby, shop our collection of furniture and appliance child safety products.