5 safety tips when working from home with kids 👶🏽

Every year in Australia over 68,000 children are admitted to hospital for injuries. Over the last 10 years, this number has not improved, and the child’s home is the most common place for injuries to occur. Working from home can present many challenges, from endless interruptions to extra long hours. These challenges are amplified when you have young children around, and also pose injury risks.

Here are 5 tips to make your home office safer:

1. Sort out the electrical cords: Cover all unused electrical outlets with outlet plugs, and purchase cord shorteners and power board covers to prevent little fingers from pulling out the cords. All these safety devices are available at hardware shops.
2. Secure the blind cords: Is your desk or chair near a window? Blind cords are a strangulation risk. Make sure that the cords are secured to the wall with a cord clip just incase your child climbs up to play with the blind cord.
3. Hot coffee or tea: Drinking your morning coffee at your desk? Make sure your cup is out of reach of little hands, and don’t drink it with them sitting on your lap.
4. Device access: Do you have older kids? You might have restrictions on your home devices, but can they access age inappropriate sites on your work devices? What security measures can you put in place?
5. Furniture: Added some bookshelves or a large screen to your workspace? Ensure the they are anchored securely to the wall to prevent little climbers from toppling furniture.

Being aware of safety risks in your home office and taking the time to install child proofing devices can help prevent accidents from happening. Most importantly, make sure that you do a paediatric first aid course to help you confidently help your child if an accident does happen.