Long after the removalists have been and gone, there are a few things you need to do to mitigate risks in your new home. Sure, you can do this by taking out the relevant policies like home and contents insurance, but this isn’t the only way you can mitigate risks in and around the home… especially if you have young children.

Over the last ten years or so the market has overflown with products that promise to be the best child-proofing money can buy. But before you shell out your well-earned cash, let’s identify the risks firsts. The best way to do this is to crawl through your house to get a toddler’s view of your home. This will help you to identify what is and isn’t a potential risk and will give you ideas on how to mitigate them.

As a general rule of thumb you should:

1. Secure your cupboard doors with childproof safety latches – but remember that this won’t stop overzealous children from gaining access to your cupboards, it will merely deter them. With this in mind, it is good practice to keep all dangerous items (including cleaning solutions and knives) in cupboards that are locked permanently or, better yet, are completely out of a child’s reach.

2. Cover all electrical wall sockets with plastic plugs – this will stop any mishaps that may occur as a result of children sticking their toys or tiny fingers in wall sockets.

3. Put protective covers on any sharp edges – this includes cupboards, tables, benches, seats… basically any type of furniture.

4. Fasten a hook-and-eye latch high up on all of your doors – this will ensure that children cannot access rooms that could be dangerous to them.

5. Install smoke detectors in all areas of your house to prevent any dangers that may result in relation to fire.

6. Remove all refrigerator magnets – this might sound extreme, but there have been a significant amount of accidents in which children have choked on magnets that have fallen off the fridge after it has been slammed.

7. Have an emergency plan – just in case the unthinkable happens, have a plan. Program the speed dial on your phone with phone numbers for your local police station, ambulance, hospital, GP, and even 000.

Once you feel that you have child-proofed your home adequately, it’s now time to test it out again. So jump on your hands and knees and crawl around the home for another inspection. Looks for anything that is loose and dangling, begging to be pulled. Your entertainment system might have unruly cords or your tablecloth might overhang too much – all of these little things need to be corrected for the safety of your child.

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