If you have a family member with a disability, these tips provide a guide for making your home a safer, more accessible home. Even for experienced parents or guardians, we recommend taking an occasional walk around your home with this checklist of safety reminders.
Safe and Accessible Home Environments for Person with Mobility Impairments
Prevent Falls from Happening
- Don’t stretch electrical extension cords across rooms or hallways. These can catch on crutches or wheelchairs. If you use extension cords, run them along the base of the wall.
- Are floor surfaces nonskid? Be sure floors provide enough traction that crutches will not slip and people with motor skills difficulties will not lose their balance.
- Fasten down all floor coverings so that crutches or wheelchairs will not catch on rugs, people with motor problems will not trip.
- Clean up grease, water, and other spilled liquids or foods immediately.
- Are areas near the stairways kept free from toys, throw rugs and anything else that might cause a fall? Falling downstairs is a common hazard. Look at the bottom of the steps as well as the top. Falling from the bottom and hitting a step can also cause severe injury.
- Keep stairs and floors free of toys, tools and other objects over which a person might trip or on which wheels might get caught.
- Keep stairs and carpeting in good repair.
- Use nonskid mats used in bath tubs and shower.
- Install hand grips alongside the shower, tub and toilet.
- Keep outdoor steps and sidewalks free from ice, snow, toys, tools and debris.
Preventing Severe Injury in Case of a Fall
- In case someone should trip and fall against one, are open windows securely screened?
- Make sure stairways have strong banisters or railings in case a person needs to hold on to keep balance walking downstairs or grab on in case of a fall.
- Are fireplaces screened and protected? A fall into an open fireplace can be a disaster.
- Are open flames such as candles kept away from walls and curtains? Think ahead! Falling against an open flame near a wall or curtain can start a fire.
- Keep drawers and cupboards closed to prevent the need to navigate a wheelchair around them and to reduce hazard of hitting the edge of a drawer or cupboard door in a fall.
- Keep pan handles pointed away from the edge of the stove.
- Keep yard free from glass, nails, yard tools and all items with jagged edges.
- Keep electrical appliances away from water and unplugged after use to prevent being accidentally knocked into the bathtub, sink or toilet.
- Check toys and play equipment regularly to be sure it is in good shape with no exposed sharp edges.
Other Tips for Injury Prevention and Safe Homes
In case of emergency, are phone numbers — police, fire, doctor, utilities — handy to the phone and in large enough print and clearly written that they can be easily read even if a person is in a panic or not wearing glasses?
If a door is locked accidentally, do interior doors such as those on closets or bathrooms have safety release locks that allow them to be opened from either side?
Keep medicines for "external use only" labeled as such and separate from others.
Discard prescription drugs after their use has ended.
Safe and Accessible Home Environments for Person with Cognitive or Behavioral Impairments You can make your home safer for individuals with intellectual disabilities through a number of simple modifications that cost you nothing. Also, remember that persons with behavioral impairments may, when frustrated, engage in unsafe behavior even though they ‘know better’.
Poison Control/Suffocation
1. Be sure garden sprays and cleaning supplies are nonpoisonous.
2. Keep all cleaning agents kept on shelves above children's reach or locked up.
3. Check clothes for pins and detachable decorations that could be swallowed.
4. Keep medicines in locked cabinets out of reach of children.
5. Is your infant's mattress firm and the bed free of pillows and loose blankets?
6. Destroy used plastic bags or keep out of children's reach.
7. Is lead-free paint used on all objects?
8. Are toys soft and the individual parts too large to be swallowed?
ACCIDENT PREVENTION- QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
1. Are all electrical appliances kept away from water and unplugged after use?
2. Is the yard free from glass, nails, yard tools and all items with jagged edges?
3. Is your family member prevented from wandering in streets and driveways?
4. Are unused electrical outlets covered or locked?
5. Are fireplaces screened and protected?
6. Does the individual need to be watched at all times when in the tub?
7. Are family members kept away from power mowers, hedge trimmers and snow blowers when such appliances are being operated?
8. In case someone gets accidentally locked in, do interior doors such as those on closets or bathrooms have safety release locks that allow them to be opened from either side?
9. Are open windows securely screened?
10. Are young children protected by gates placed at the top and bottom of stairway?
11. Are electrical appliances disconnected when not in use?
12. Are freezer units and trash compactors locked?
13. Are pan handles pointed away from the edge of the stove and other burners?
Information adapted from the Easter seals website, safe homes web page