Hidden home dangers injure thousands of children every year

Laundry detergent is just one of the common household substances that sent a total of 82,000 children to emergency rooms in 2015, which was the most recent year from which statistics are available.

"There are things that we, as adults, we don't think that they're harmful," said Capt. Reda Bigler of the Phoenix Fire Department.

She points to blue Gatorade and Windex as examples of two liquids that may look the same to a young child. Apple juice and floor polish, Red Hots and Sudafed, chocolate Ex Lax and chocolate bars, and Tums and candy wafers are other examples of common household medicines, and cleaners that a child could confuse with juice or candy.

"It's really hard to tell the difference. They look very similar," said Bigler.

According to yearly tallies by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, even the safest, most child-proof of homes still contain hazards that injure thousands of children each year.

Here are just a few examples:

• From 2008 to 2010, 25,300 children were treated at emergency rooms for injuries from falling furniture and televisions
• In 2013, 157,800 house fires started in residential kitchens from cooking equipment. That was nearly half of all residential fires.
• 307,000 children went to the emergency room from bike accidents
• 89,000 children were treated at emergency rooms from injuries suffered while jumping on trampolines
• Thousands of other children are injured in pools, by fireworks and cars.

"It isn't possible to completely child-proof a home," said Bigler. "But identifying potential dangers, communicating with children, and storing chemicals and medicines out of their reach is an excellent start, she says.

You can find the latest CPSC injury statistics here.

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