Home Alone Safety Checklist

Telephone

• List important numbers beside each telephone and/or program them in.
• Equip your phone with an answering device or service so it can take messages.
• Buy a phone with caller I.D.
• Tell your child to answer the phone only for specific callers. Let the phone take a message for all others.

Security

• Provide secure locks for all doors and windows.
• Store matches, lighters, medications, household cleaners, and other toxic substances in a safe place. Make sure they are clearly labeled and in their original containers.
• Lock up alcoholic beverages, and check to make sure they do not mysteriously disappear.
• Store firearms and ammunition separately and under lock and key.
• Use light timers so your child doesn't come home to a dark house.

Fire Safety

• You must have a smoke alarm on each level of the house (or for homes on one level, near the kitchen and all bedrooms). Test them to make sure they all work.
• Replace any broken electrical cords and use no more than two plugs per outlet.
• Keep your hot water heater below 54 C to prevent scalding.

First Aid

Assemble a basic kit with your child, explaining what each item is and how to use it. Include:

• box of different-sized bandages for small cuts;
• sterile gauze pad for larger cuts, with adhesive tape to hold it and small scissors to cut the tape;
• tweezers to remove slivers;
• peroxide to clean cuts and cotton balls to apply it; and
• digital thermometer to check for fever.
• Keep a cold pack in the freezer.

Power Outages

• Keep a flashlight or two (and extra batteries) handy.
• Provide a few items that can run on batteries, e.g. radio, clock, electronic games.