20 Random Safety Tips

Safety, doing things to prevent or mitigate death and injuries, is an important part of preparedness. Here's 50 random tips to keep you safe and healthy:

1. Never store poisons in old food containers. Many people have been poisoned when they drank gas, anti freeze or other items from what they thought was a bottle full of soda pop.


2. Wear your seatbelt low around your hips. If your seat belt is high up on your waist or wrapped around you in a fluffy parka, you can get serious spinal injuries in a car accident. Wear the belt properly.


3. If you have the old blinds with the loopy pull cords on your windows, cut the cords so they do not form a noose that can strangle young children.


4. Don't take medication prescribed for others. Prescription meds are given based on a number of factors (weight, condition, interaction with other meds the patient is taking, allergies, etc); these factors might not be your factors.


5. Wear a helmet. With motorcycles and bicycles it isn't IF you will crash but WHEN. Better to have a cracked helmet than a cracked skull.


6. Don't drink alcohol. Sacrilege some might think, but if people were never intoxicated there would be no DUI crashes and the number of domestic violence incidents would drop dramatically.


7. Exercise every day. Not only is is good for heart health, diabetes, and cholesterol levels, it makes you less prone to injury should you fall or otherwise injure yourself.


8. Use safety tools at home and at work. Saws have blade guards for a reason. Ditto for trench bracing, chef's gloves, and the like.


9. If you are taking heavy duty pain killers or a handful of prescription meds, use those little pills boxes which have a compartment for each day to store your meds. It can be confusing (especially under the influence of pain meds) to remember what you took and when you took it; accidental overdoses are on the rise for this very reason.


10. Be careful on ladders. Falls are quickly becoming the leading cause of death an injury simply because as we get older our balance, vision, and bone strength are all not what they used to be.


11. Be careful crossing the street! When you think of vehicle/pedestrian accidents, you often think of children not paying attention and being hit by a car. The stats, however, show that adults in the 45 to 65 year old range are actually more likely to be hit by a car than a child.


12. Be fire safe--have working smoke alarms, fire extinguishers on hand, and a fire escape plan.


13. Never use combustion appliances in an unvented area--open the garage doors before starting your car in the garage, use all barbecue appliances outside, open the flue before starting a fire in the fireplace, run generators outside and have the exhaust pointed away from your house, etc.


14. Wrap your baby up in a warm sleeper then put them to sleep on their back in a crib without any pillow, blankets, stuffed animals, etc. Suffocation in their sleeping environment is a common cause of death for babies.


15. Water safety is huge--swim in marked areas with a friend. Never swim alone, in situations above your swimming ability, and certainly don't dive into unfamiliar water.


16. Turkey deep fryers make a tasty turkey but they are a huge fire/burn hazard. Use this type of fryer outside and don't put too much oil in the fryer as it could over flow when you drop in the turkey.


17. Put ICE (in case of emergency) on your cell phone attached to the phone number that should be called in the event of your incapacitation. Put ICE 2 and ICE 3 if you would like to add additional contacts.
18. Use a lock and key when necessary--to lock up alcohol if you have a house full of teens, to lock up your firearms, to lock up your medications, etc.
19. Have a code word with your family to alert them to a dangerous situation.
20. Be proactive instead of reactive--make your home secure, get regular medical check ups, have an emergency fund for future emergencies, etc.