Cbwers

5. Falls. (About 80 percent of the accidental deaths of

6.

persons 65 years of age or older are due to falls.)

Keep all medicines and cleaning substances in secure
containers, out of reach of young children, plainly
marked as to content, and preferably in locked cabinets.

Never take medicine in the dark. Always make sure
of the contents of the container before taking any
medicine.

Know the antidote for each poison kept in the house.

Fasten rugs to prevent slipping, or use nonslip
underpads.

Before turning out the light, make sure that all articles
of furniture are in their customary places to prevent
stumbling over them in the dark.

Extinguish cigars, cigarets, and matches after use, and
place them in proper receptacles.

Keep a screen in front of an open fireplace whenever a
fire is burning.

Keep draperies, decorations, and other inflammable
materials away from open lights or from close contact
with electric bulbs.

Keep small objects such as buttons, marbles, and pins
off the floor and away from small children.

Make sure that household wiring is adequate for safely
conducting the current to operate electrical appliances,
and that circuits are protected with proper fuses.

Use only “U L” approved outlets, fixtures, and cords;
have repairs made promptly.

Teach members of the family not to touch anything
electrical when the hands are wet or lesioe any portion
of the body is in water.

Burns and suffocation. (About one third of the home
accident deaths of children under 5 years of age result
from burns and scalds; about one fifth from mechanical
suffocation, chiefly smothering under bedclothes.)