Handling and storing
As a general rule, keep cleaning products,
poisons and medications in their
original containers to avoid confusion.
Manufacturers will usually advise how best
to store and use their products.
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Clearly mark all poisons, medications
and harmful substances when storing.
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Never transfer poisons to drink or food
containers.
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Don’t take or administer medication in
the dark. Make sure you can read the
label.
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Make it a practice not to take medicine
from an unmarked bottle.
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Don’t mix different cleaning products,
add bleach, or throw chemicals, batteries
or household waste into a fire as toxic
fumes can be released.
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Clean out your medicine cabinet regularly
to reduce the chance of taking wrong or
old medications in error. Once a medicine
expires, not only can it lose its potency
but also its chemical composition may
have changed.
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Be careful when disposing of medicines
so your pets don’t ingest them from the
trash.
Thousands of people are accidentally poisoned each year. The Poisons
Information Centre takes hundreds of thousands of phone calls annually
from people needing help or information.
Yet most poisonings can be prevented through simple interventions.
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