SAS Urban Survival Handbook (24 page)

WARNING

DON’T mix toilet cleaners. Various combinations of toilet cleaner can react violently with one another. In some cases this results in the production of highly toxic fumes which—if they don’t knock you out altogether—may produce uncontrollable choking and lung irritation.

CHILDPROOFING

• ■
  The bathroom is usually the one room that can be locked. Small children can often close a sliding bolt, but have some difficulty unlocking it. Set it out of reach of tiny hands.
  
• ■
  If the door has an ordinary lock, remove the key and fit a bolt higher up. Don’t use too strong a bolt. If an accident happens, you may need to break the door down.
  
• ■
  Make the medicine cabinet lockable and keep it locked. Hide the key. Children can otherwise investigate it at their leisure.
  
• ■
  Similarly, lock up toilet cleaners and other chemicals or keep them out of children’s reach.
  
• ■
  Some small children like to investigate toilets. Not very hygienic, but not likely to do serious harm—unless a toilet cleaner has been used. Use cleaners only after children have gone to bed.
  
• ■
  Children are particularly likely to get into a bath without realizing that the water is too hot.
  
• ■
  Non-slip mats and baby supports can make bathing easier and safer.
  
• ■
  Never ever go away to answer the door or the phone leaving young children in the bath. Either ignore the caller or wrap the child in a towel and carry them with you.
  
• ■
  Childproof medicine containers may NOT be childproof to a really determined child. Treading on plastic containers may release the contents.
  

HALLWAY/STAIRS/LANDING

A huge number of reported home accidents involve injury to the feet. You should have a pair of slippers—not wander round in bare feet or only wearing socks or stockings. Also, although you may become ‘attached’ to your favourite old slippers, you must replace them as soon as they become worn or slippery.

WARNING

When dealing with polished floors, particularly polished stairs, try to keep the use of waxes to a minimum. There are ‘non-slip’ waxes available which are not the total answer. The biggest danger comes from over-use of ‘silicone wax’ furniture polishes. The silicone reduces friction, making furniture feel ‘polished’. Even the spray-drift off the edge of a table could cause a dangerous slippery patch on the floor. Don’t polish handrails, where a good grip may be needed.

• ◑ Stairs are a particularly risky place for falls, each step can deliver an injury as you come down. Check the stairs themselves for structural soundness, rot and woodworm.
  
• ◑ Check that lighting is effective and never put off changing light bulbs. Two-way switches or timed switches will help ensure that stairs do not have to be negotiated in the dark.
  
• ◑ Keep carpets well fitted and in good repair.
  
• ◑ Avoid loose rugs in halls.
  
• ◑ Avoid placing furniture, plants, bicycles or any obstruction at the foot of stairs and on landings.
  
• ◑ Fit a secure handrail the full length of the stairs and on each flight. If there are elderly members of the household, fit a rail up BOTH sides. Continue them onto the landings.
  
• ◑ NEVER put things down on the stairs—dustpan and brushes, books, trays, clothes to be put in drawers, towels for the bathrooms, the vacuum cleaner with its flex. It seems the obvious place to put something to remind you to carry it up when next you go upstairs, but by then someone may have tripped on it—yourself, if you forget to pick it up!
  
• ◑ Open risers can look attractive, but can be a hazard for the elderly and children. Consider boarding up the gaps until children are old enough not to stick their heads through.
  
• ◑ Windows or glass doors opening from stairs should be glazed with toughened glass. Avoid having windows/glass doors at the foot of the stairs.
  

Fire risks

Do not store flammable materials such as old newspapers, oil-based paint, paraffin, or gas cylinders in a cupboard under the stairs. A fire starting here will spread rapidly, the stairs acting as a chimney, taking the fire to the rest of the house.

Keep doors leading off halls and landings closed. This will slow down the spread of fire.

CHILDPROOFING

Fit gates at top and bottom of the stairs, and at the bottom of the upward flight if there is another floor above the children’s rooms. Gates should be easily removable (by adults) in case of fire or another emergency.

If balusters (vertical handrail supports) are more than 6 cm (2.5 ins) apart or there are climbable horizontal rails, board them over until small children have grown old enough to make the risks negligible.

Discourage children from sliding on banisters or playing on stairs and in hallways. Teach them never to leave toys, books, schoolbags or any other objects on stairs or in hallways.

LOFT

Use a proper ladder or stepladder to get into your loft, and make sure that it is firm and stable before climbing it. For a long-term solution, fit a proper loft ladder that can be folded up and pulled down as required.

Take up a torch with you, or an inspection light in a wire cage—never a naked flame. In the long term extend the lighting circuit to the loft, it will make inspections very much easier and help prevent freeze-ups in cold climates. Fit the switch on the landing below so that you do not have to climb into the dark.

Loft entry covers are often unattached boards. Move them gently so that they do not crash back. Fitting hinges, plus a block to support them when open, will avoid this problem—but ensure that they open in a direction which will not obstruct your access. Concertina, folding and sliding ladders are all available ready made, sometimes complete with a built-in hatch cover. These covers often open downwards.

Access and storage

Lofts are not built as rooms, but as air spaces beneath the roof and to house water tanks. They may have no floorboards and if you step off the rafters you will probably go straight through the ceiling into the room below. Fix strong boards across the rafters to give you easy access in places you may need to reach. Do NOT use loose boarding.

Consider putting a proper floor down. In most cases the joists, where you would fix floorboards, are not load-bearing. The floors below have stronger joists to take the loads necessary. In the loft, the joists were only intended to support the ceiling immediately below. That means that if you’re considering conversion of the loft-space into a room, this is one of the first problems that needs to be solved.

Although not intended as storage areas, that is how many lofts get used. Lay boards across the joists, to spread the load, wherever you want to place objects. DON’T balance boxes on joists or rest anything directly on the ‘ceiling’ between the joists—they could end up in the room below!

Do not store heavy objects over the centre of large rooms—it could cause ceilings to sag. Place heavy furniture against the outside walls and the party walls of terrace and semidetached houses where the load will be more readily transferred to the walls—but take care not to add too much weight!

Do not fill the loft with inflammable material. A fire could become established there without you being aware of it below.

Insulation

Check that water tanks and pipes are properly lagged. If the loft is insulated with mineral-fibre blanket, wear gloves and a dust mask if you are likely to disturb it to prevent irritation to skin, lungs and mucous membranes. Insulation is economically and ecologically desirable, but the roof must be ventilated to avoid the risk of condensation in an unheated roof space.

Modern houses often have ventilation holes at the eaves which may become blocked with insulation. You may need to insert airbricks in the gables or drill holes in the soffit boards. Do not insulate over electric cables since they could overheat. Do not insulate under water tanks—warmth from the lower floors helps to prevent freezing.

MIND YOUR HEAD

Are there low doorways, beams, shelves and cupboards which could deliver a nasty bump to the head? Don’t put shelves and cupboards where this can happen, especially if the stairs are involved.

If there is an overhead obstruction as you come down the stairs (more likely in an older property), you may have to pad it to prevent people from having a nasty accident. Otherwise you could paint it to highlight the danger, or pin a strip of fabric across so that people duck slightly lower than they would have to normally.

GARDEN

The garden can be a real danger zone—especially for children, who should be able to play there unsupervised. Make sure paths and steps are safe and even.

If they become slippery with moss or choked with weeds, they could become dangerous. Ice and snow should be cleared and a thin layer of sharp sand/grit should be laid in frosty weather. A sand-and-salt mixture will clear thin ice and snow, if you don’t mind the salt running off into flowerbeds.

The gate (if there is one) should be strong enough to deter a young child from running out into the road. Keep the catch high enough or difficult enough to discourage tiny fingers.

Garden chemicals

Chemical pesticide sprays, slug pellets and similar products are developed to kill. Few of them are selective—they will also do harm to your pets, your children and yourself if ingested, inhaled or absorbed (see POISONS).

Long before pesticides were developed by the petrochemicals industry, there were effective organic ways of dealing with most of our garden pests. Plants that were not dosed with artificial fertilizers and sprays were stronger and more resistant to pests and diseases. Investigate organic gardening and you remove much of the danger from your own garden.