Winter Safety Tips from YBFD	Carbon Monoxide Precautions
Prevent Airway Obstruction	Water Safety

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Winter Safety Tips from YBFD

1. Always use a portable generator in an open area with proper ventilation. Never use it inside a building like your garage or basement.
2. Have a qualified professional connect your generator properly to your house system.
3. Have your wood stove and chimney checked by a qualified professional.
4. Burn seasoned wood to eliminate creosote buildup in your chimney.
5. Keep all combustible material at least three feet away from your wood stove.
6. Have your furnace or boiler cleaned yearly. This not only will assure you safe burning, but will also save you money in your heating fuel consumption.
7. Check all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure you have fresh batteries installed.
8. If you use electric space heaters, make sure it has a safety switch to turn it off should it get tipped over. Make sure all combustible material such as curtains and bedspreads, are at least three feet away from the heater.
9. Make sure candles are extinguished if you are not going to be in the room while they are burning. Never leave a candle unattended.
10. Clean off all the windows in your car before you start driving. Windows covered with frost or snow can create blind spots, especially at intersections.

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Carbon Monoxide Precautions

Carbon monoxide is commonly known as “the silent killer.” Because it is colorless odorless, and tasteless, none of your senses can detect it. CO claims the lives of nearly 300 people in their homes each year according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CO is a potentially deadly gas that is produced by fuel-burning heating equipment, such as furnaces, wood stoves, fireplaces, and kerosene heaters. Follow these guidelines to help keep your family safer.

1. Install at least one CO alarm near sleeping areas. You can purchase them at your local hardware store.
2. Have a trained professional inspect, clean and tune-up your home’s central heating system and repair leaks or other problems; fireplaces and woodstoves should also be inspected each year and cleaned or repaired as needed.
3. Keep gas appliances properly adjusted and serviced.
4. Never use an oven or range to heat your home.
5. Never use a gas or charcoal grill inside your home or in a closed garage.
6. Portable electric generators must be used outside only. Never use them indoors, in a garage or in any confined area that can allow CO to collect. Follow usage directions closely.

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Prevent Airway Obstruction

1. Place infants on their backs in cribs and make sure the sheet and mattress fit tightly to avoid entrapment and suffocation
2. Remove soft bedding, pillows, toys and stuffed animals from the crib.
3. Consider buying a small parts tester to gauge whether objects present a choking hazard to young children. To approximate the test, use a cardboard toilet paper roll to measure objects and if they fit inside, keep them out of a child’s reach.
4. Always supervise children when they are playing and eating. Do not permit children under the age of 6 to consume small, round or hard foods, such as hot dogs.
5. Keep small items including jewelry, buttons and safety pins away from children.
6. Reconsider the use of latex balloons in homes with your children, as the balloons or pieces of balloon material can become lodged in a child’s throat.
7. Make sure that rattles, squeeze toys, teething toys and pacifier shields are too large and firm to lodge in a baby’s throat.
8. Look carefully at toys and pacifiers and dispose of those with small broken parts that could be lodged in an infant's throat.
9. Remove squeakers from squeeze toys. Babies may detach squeakers and choke.
10. Read toy labels and other packaging information and base your selection on age recommendations.
11. Never hang pictures, quilts or decorations containing ribbon or string on or over a crib.
12. Window blind cords can present a serious strangulation hazard. Move cribs and playpens away from windows. Tie up window cords out of a child’s reach.
13. Pull out drawstrings in children’s outerwear and remove necklaces, purses and scarves before play.
14. Make sure that children under 6 do not sleep on the top bunk of raised beds. Verify that spaces between the guardrail and bed frame, as well as the head and foot boards, are less than 3.5 inches.

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Water Safety

According to The State of Home Safety in America™ report, drowning is the fifth leading cause of unintentional injury related death. Drowning is a silent and sudden event, and many drowning deaths at home are related to swimming pools. Since drowning victims often do not make any noise once in distress, constant supervision around any body of water is critical. Adopt the following guidelines to help keep your pool area safe:

1. Install four-sided fencing with self-locking and self-closing gates. Fencing should completely isolate the pool from the home and be least five feet high.
2. Always keep gates closed and latched. Never prop a gate open or disable the lock.
3. Always practice constant, adult supervision around any body of water, including pools and spas. Never leave your child alone or in the care of another child.
4. When hosting a pool party, assign specific adults to keep an eye on the pool at all times.
5. Enroll non-swimmers in swimming lessons taught by a qualified instructor.
6. Remember that regardless of age or skill level, no one is “drown proof.” Children should always be supervised by an adult while they are swimming.
7. Never swim alone. Even adults should swim with a buddy.
8. Learn and practice basic lifesaving techniques, including First Aid and CPR. Insist that anyone who cares for your children learn CPR.
9. Keep poolside rescue equipment and a cordless, water resistant telephone close to the pool area.
10. Post emergency numbers and CPR instructions near the pool area.
11. Teach children that drains, grates and filters are not toys. Never stick fingers or toes in these openings and stay away from suction devices.
12. Always remove toys from the pool area when not in use.
13. Post safety rules in a highly visible location. Make sure children are familiar with the rules.
14. Keep spas and hot tubs covered and locked when not in use.
15. Completely remove pool and spa covers prior to swimming.
16. Stay out of the pool during severe weather and thunderstorms, especially if lightning is forecast or present.
17. If a child is missing, check the pool area first.

These & Additional Safety Tips from Home Safety Council