Safety at Home (Part-1). Review on General Tips on Household Cleaners

I wanted to post it separately as Safety At Home but MS could not include this in their product list. This article is part of the handouts that I distribute during community training programs. Some information may be useful to you. Like past only motive to post this article is to increase awareness.

We spend more time for education and financial security to secure future of our nearest and dearest but very little about safety. It is our moral duty to think about safety of our beloved one.

This is a cleaning season because of Diwali. Most of the houses in this country will get a wash. Take care when you do that.

>> Peroxides

Many housewives use hydrogen peroxide as a bleaching agent. Hydrogen Peroxide, looks like water but is a very dangerous chemical, it can create havoc. Many of you cannot handle such situation. It reacts with acid very vigorously. Most of you must be storing Citric Acid in your kitchen cabinet and some even may be keeping it by the side of a bottle of peroxide or may be storing with another cleaning agent Hydrochloric Acid. Friends, be careful.

Drop of much diluted peroxide in your eye is capable to make you blind in seconds and there is no treatment.

>> Hydrochloric Acid

This chemical we use to clean floor especially bathroom. Do you know most of the acids available in grocery shop are recovered from some chemical process? This acid may contain some very harmful impurities. These impurities may be extremely harmful. Avoid using such acids. You may go to a laboratory chemicals dealer to buy hydrochloric acid.

>> Floor Cleaners / Disinfectants

Most of the brands that I have seen are toxic in nature. But cannot avoid using it so use surgical gloves not only to protect your hand but also to prevent absorption such chemicals in your body. Servants who work for our pleasure should be treated equally in case of health and hygiene.

Some of these may have adverse effect on child’s health.

>> Detergents

Customer is the king and as a customer you have choice to select from vary wide range. There are costly one from P&G, Henkel and cheaper one from many. No one can offer a product like detergent at low cost without compromising on quality. Using cheaper raw materials and adding fillers like salts and soda ash etc cost of detergent may be reduced. These filler will have adverse effect not only on cloth but also damage your machine and hand. In case of a cheaper product required quantity per wash also increases. So in the long run consumer is not benefited.

Don’t believe those ads. To make a detergent environmental friendly one has to spent a lot and cannot be sold at a lower price.

In India I will recommend to go for brands like Ariel or Henkel.

Special care should be taken in case of clothing for infants. After detergent wash it is important to remove those detergents by proper rinsing. There may be rashes or other infections due to presence of chemicals on cloth.

>> Hazard due to Organic Solvents

We use solvents like Kerosene, petrol even ethers at home for cleaning purpose and store these in plastic cans. Static Charges generated due to friction between solvents and plastic may trigger fire. So, it desirable to store such items in metal cans. Even a bottle of nail polish remover or a bottle of gas for your lighter may create havoc.

We cannot think of civilization without fire. We have to live with this hazard but we can surly take enough precautions to protect loved one and also to save property.

Someone may find it difficult to understand but let me try to explain. There can be fire only if there are Fuel(the combustible), Heat(may be due to friction, spark, flame) and Oxygen(from air). In absence of anyone of these, there cannot be fire. We call it Fire Triangle. So best way to Prevent or Fight fire is to isolate / remove anyone of these three components.

What to do incase of an unwanted fire?

First action should be Save Life – Move everyone to a safer place. Call fire brigade or some experienced person instead of trying experiments.

>> Washing Machine

Do you see any hazard in it?

One of the hazardous areas is The Spinner or The Dryer. This is a high RPM unit. Speed may be more than 3000 rotations per minutes. It has a lid and that should be interlocked; I mean the spinner must stop if someone opens the lid.

You can imagine what can happen if a hand of even an adult goes in it when it is moving. Please check its interlock at least once in 3 months for the safety of your dear one.

We use a Whirlpool machine at home. That talk of the town agitator of Whirlpool may also create problem of course it is low speed part. Anyway, take care.

>> Toys

As per as toys are concerned our country does not have any safety regulation or guideline because of that you can find many very unsafe toys everywhere like guns with small plastic shots. Such shots can hit someone’s eye. So before buying a toy, make sure it is safe for your dearest and nearest.

Cleaning of toys with suitable cleaners is very important especially when the child is small. Accumulated dust and fungus on the toys are may have fatal effect.

>> Insecticides / Pesticides – Mosquito / Cockroach repellents or other pests

We use lot of these deadly Insecticides / Pesticides at home to get relief from Mosquitoes, Cockroaches and other pests. These chemicals have various affect on human body. Unfortunately, these chemicals get absorbed in our system through skin. Moreover, in most of the cases absorption is very fast. There is a technical term known as LD50 value. LD stands for lethal dose expressed in milligram / kg of body weight. Manufacturers should share information with consumers. Any consumer should look for this information before using such products.

In case of a lovely kid of 10 kg body weight, require few grams of such toxic chemicals to get affected. Symptoms like diarrhea, sudden drop of hemoglobin are very common. Antidotes are available but many a time people does not get right treatment because Physician does not come to know the reason for such illness or in small towns antidote may not be available. Vapors of active ingredients coming out from a mosquito repellent mate may not be very good for a small kid.

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This is brief article to increase awareness. There are many other situations / equipments that may need to be analyzed. Well thought precautions will surely in any case reduce severity of the accident.

Wish You Safe And Better Tomorrow With Your Family And Friends