Child safety
Poisoning is one of the top three reasons
why children under five years old are taken
to emergency departments or admitted
to hospital. Most of these poisonings are
caused by medications and nearly all take
place at home. Incidents often happen when
adults are distracted for a moment on the
phone or at the door, often when medicine
has just been purchased or used.
Common causes of toddler poisoning are
ingesting paracetamol, sleeping tablets, cold
and flu medications and oral contraceptive
pills.
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Store medicines and poisons out of reach
and out of sight of children.
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Consider installing child resistant
mechanisms on the doors of storage
cupboards.
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Don’t store medicines in the fridge door
but rather in a container in the back of the
fridge.
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Avoid calling medicines ‘lollies’ or taking
medicine in front of children as they love
to imitate.
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Closely supervise children when
using toys or devices containing
button batteries as they can cause life
threatening injuries if swallowed.
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Read product labels to find out what
can be hazardous to kids. Dangerous
household items include makeup,
personal care products, plants,
pesticides, art supplies and alcohol.
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Throw away old medicines and other
potential poisons. Check your garage,
basement and other storage areas for
cleaning and work supplies you no longer
need and can discard.
Disposal of old medicines
Unwanted medicines are often flushed
down the toilet, tipped into the sink or
put out with the garbage, which can
end up contaminating waterways, soil
and, ultimately, our drinking water.
Return any unwanted medicines to
your chemist.
Don’t tip unwanted medicines down
the sink.
If poisoning occurs, seek medical
aid and call 000 (Triple Zero) for an
ambulance.
Call the Poisons Information Centre on
13 11 26.
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