Home Safety Hurricane Tip: Dangers of Bathtubs Full of Water - Child Safety
Sep 12th, 2008 by safetyculture
Hello everyone from Houston Texas. Yes, I am currently in the path of Hurricane Ike. The beach community (Galveston) south of me, started to flood last night. This was seen as an indicator of things to come as the hurricane is (as I type this an hour or so away of making landfall. I would like to first say thank you. I have received several emails expressing concern for my family and me. The emails are very kind and my family and I thank you for your concern and prayers.
I live in a community, Northwest of Houston so I feel my family will be safe taking shelter in our home. As I type this and listen to all of the recommendations from the different news agencies, I realized that some of the recommendations might introduce new risk that others might not recognize, amongst the chaos of the imminent hurricane. I would like to share a tip with all who might ever be in the path of a major storm such as the one. Many recommend filling your bathtub full of water so you will have water (for many reasons) should it be cut off or otherwise inaccessible. I highly encourage all to be aware that doing so (while a great preventative measure) they have just created a drowning opportunity in their homes, if they have small children/toddlers. Please be constantly aware of the location of the children in relation to the water, as things start to intense.
Accidental death is the number one cause of death in Americans ages 1-44 years of age (-source National Safety Council). Of all the major things that are out there (Like hurricanes), it is the avoidable mundane that harms us most frequently. I hope that others in Ike’s path has already thought of this.
If not a tragedy could be avoided by a few key precautions and the awareness of newly introduced risk.
Thank you and to my fellow Houstonians, Stay Safe! Shawn Galloway – Cypress Texas
