Spring Child Home Safety Checklist for Household Staff

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Spring Child Home Safety Checklist for Household Staff

Handsome male gardener in greenhouse

With spring in the air and the kids tired of being stuck indoors, they will want to spend more time outdoors playing, riding bikes, and enjoying the pool and other outdoor activities. It is important to take the time to create a child home safety checklist and have your domestic household staff ensure they review every item.

1. Verify all screen windows are secure.

If you like having your windows open to let in fresh air, make sure your maintenance technician verifies all screens are secure and cannot easily be pushed out. They should do a weight test as a precaution to see how much weight the screen will support. Any screens that fail the test should be replaced with durable safety screens that won’t fall out.

2. Have your gardener secure any dangerous equipment and supplies.

Make sure weed eaters, fertilizers, weed killers, sharp gardening tools, and other equipment are properly secured and stored away where children cannot easily access them. A small storage shed with a lock is a great solution or place items on shelving where your children cannot reach them.

3. Secure outdoor kitchens and grills.

Install child locks and other safety devices to keep kids from accessing grilling tools, knives, and other such hazardous kitchen equipment and tools. Install child locks over stove and grill knobs so they cannot turn them on.

4. Test pool door alarms.

If you have a pool, make sure door alarms are working so they alert domestic staff if your toddler or children open the door to go out by the pool. You should also have life vests and other floatation devices your kids can wear when in the pool if they are not expert swimmers.

5. Practice severe weather and tornado drills.

Make sure your staff knows where to take your children in the house during severe weather or a tornado. Your children should also practice these drills to be prepared.

6. Install locks on cabinets that contain cleaning chemicals.

Make sure cabinets have secure locks on them to keep children from getting into cleaning chemicals, laundry detergents, bleach, anti-bacterial cleaners, etc.

7. Post a list of emergency contact phone numbers on the refrigerator.

There should be a list of emergency contact phone numbers for doctors, dentists, and other essential contacts for household staff when you are away from home. If an accident does occur, your staff will need to know who to call and how to reach you.

8. Verify bike helmets, kneed pads, and other sports safety equipment still fits.

Your child will have grown over the winter. You will want to make sure these items still fit correctly. If they have outgrown anything, replace it with the proper size.

9. Update guardianship and medical authorization forms as needed.

Kid shows the thumbs up on bicycle

If there has been a change in any staff, the spring is a great time to review temporary guardianship and medical authorization forms to see if any changes are needed. For instance, you may have hired a new nanny for your children.

10. Make sure your nanny has access to child car seats.

If your nanny will drive your children to and from school, school events, play dates, etc., make sure the vehicle they use has the necessary and proper child car seats.

Keep in mind, this is just a preliminary home safety checklist to help get you started. Don’t overlook other items specific to your household—like if you own firearms, power tools, etc.

For help finding qualified and experienced household staff and nannies, please feel free to contact Staffing at Tiffanie’s at 866-484-5550 today!