Safety First

I started installing these electrical outlet covers a couple of days ago. They’re supposed to prevent Margot from sticking her little fingers (or something else) into the outlet.

While I was buying these I couldn’t help but wonder if a baby has ever actually died by sticking his/her fingers into an electrical outlet. After some extensive research (5 minute Google search) I came upon this tidbit:

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission, each year approximately 4,000 people find themselves in the emergency room seeking treatment for injuries caused by accidents involving electrical outlets. About a third to one-half of these patients are children who decided to stick some kind of metal object (like a paper clip or spoon handle) or their finger into the outlet

Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/first-aid/finger-in-electrical-outlet.htm

Assuming that quote is true, I guess my $5 purchase was a worthwhile investment. Something interesting strikes me about that statistic though - the majority of people who decide to stick something into an outlet are adults. So really, these things should always be installed! I think new homes in the UK and some provinces of Canada (Ontario) come with built-in prong covers so maybe those Governments agree with me.

I’m on the fence with respect to the two other possible safety purchases for Margot: (i) a baby monitor; and (ii) a baby fence. With respect to the baby monitor, Margot can easily be heard throughout the house, so I’m not sure what the value is. Similarly, I’m having a difficult time envisioning a situation where I would need to fence Margot off from a certain area of the house. Although we have stairs that could theoretically be dangerous, they are in an area of the house where we would never just leave Margot by herself. Still, you never know... Anyways, like I said, I’m on the fence.