If your travel plans include staying in a vacation rental home, CPSC recommends you check for safety features before signing the rental agreement. Vacation rentals should have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and at least one fire extinguisher. If there is a pool or a residential elevator at your vacation rental home, you'll need to take extra precautions to keep kids safe.
Unfamiliar homes can present dangers to your family, so follow these safety tips during your stay:
Fire Safety
- Check with the property manager to verify the property has smoke and carbon monoxide alarms installed and working, as well as at least one fire extinguisher.
- Be sure to have a fire escape plan that includes two ways out of each room.
Pool Safely
- Never leave a child unattended in or near water.
- Ask the property manager about proper pool barriers, covers and alarms around the pool or spa, and use them consistently.
- Know how to perform CPR on children and adults.
- Make sure children learn how to swim.
- Keep children away from pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapment.
Residential Elevator Safety
Homes with residential elevators can be a danger to small children if the gap between the elevator door and the access door inside the home is greater than four inches deep.
- Keep children from playing with or around residential elevators.
- Ask the property manager to lock all access doors to the elevator so children cannot enter.
Furniture and TV Tip-overs
- Before renting, check with the property manager to make sure that furniture is anchored to the wall.
- Don’t let children climb on furniture, and don’t place toys and tv remotes where children might be tempted to climb up to reach for them.
Safe Sleep
Babies spend most of their time sleeping.
- Bare is Best: Always keep the baby’s sleep space bare (fitted sheet only) to prevent suffocation. Do not use pillows, padded crib bumpers, quilts or comforters.
- Only place the baby to sleep in a product that is intended for sleep. Transfer the baby to a crib, bassinet, play yard or bedside sleeper if the baby falls asleep in a swing, bouncer, lounger or similar product.
Poison prevention
- Keep cleaning supplies in a locked cabinet or out of reach of children
Window cords
- Keep all window cords out of reach of children. They can be a strangulation hazard.
Injury and death statistics associated with the hazards above are included in our full press release.
Remember, unfamiliar homes can present dangers to your family. Print the safety poster below, take it along to your vacation rental home, and follow the safety tips to protect your family from hazards during your stay.
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