Poison Prevention
Safety Tips for You and Your Family
Make your home safer
- Post the poison control number 1-800-222-1222 on or near every home telephone.
- Store all medicines, household products, and personal care products in locked cabinets that are out of reach of small children.
- Know the names of the plants in your house and yard. Identify poisonous plants and place them out of reach of children or remove them.
- Be aware of any medicines that visitors may bring into your home. Make sure your visitors do not leave their medicines where children can find them easily, for example in an unattended purses or suitcase.
- Monitor the air quality in your house. Place carbon monoxide monitors near the bedrooms in your house.
- All combustion (fuel burning) appliances should be professionally installed and inspected annually.
- Check your house for lead-based paints. For additional information about the health effects of lead, or to report a high lead level, call the Health Department Lead Program, at (802) 865-7786 or, toll-free from within Vermont, 1-800-439-8550.
Use poisonous products safely
- Always store household products in their original containers. Do not use food containers such as cups or bottles to store chemical products such as cleaning solutions or cosmetic products.
- Always read the labels before using a potentially poisonous product. Never leave the product unattended while using it and return the product to the locked cabinet when you are finished.
- A light should be turned on when giving or taking medication.
- Avoid taking medicine in front of children because they tend to imitate adults.
- Do not call medicine candy.
- Follow directions on label when taking medicines. Be aware of potential interactions with other medicines or alcohol and never share prescription drugs.
- Turn on the fan and open windows when using chemical products.
- Wear protective clothing (gloves, long pants, long sleeves, socks, shoes) when spraying pesticides and other chemicals.
- Never mix household and chemical products together. A poisonous gas may be created when mixing chemicals.
- Do not burn fuels or charcoal or use gasoline-powered engines in confined spaces such as garages, tents, or poorly ventilated rooms.
What to do if a poisoning exposure occurs
- Remain calm
- If you have a poison emergency and the victim has collapsed or is not breathing call 911. If you have a poison exposure and the victim is alert call 1-800-222-1222. Try to have the following information ready if possible:
- the person’s age and estimated weight
- the container or bottle of the poisonous product, if available
- time that the poison exposure occurred
- your name and phone number
- Follow the instructions from the emergency operator or the poison control center.
The Northeast Injury Prevention Network
Since 1989, the Northeast Injury Prevention Network (NEIPN), comprised of eight state health departments:
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
and the Children's Safety Network (CSN) has worked collaboratively to carry out regional activities to prevent intentional and unintentional injuries.
These activities include multidisciplinary training initiatives in the areas of traffic safety, teen worker safety, program evaluation and suicide prevention. In this current report, NEIPN has standardized poisoning data across the eight states to increase the public health awareness of these events as a regional public health problem.
The poison data represented are of poisoning related injuries or events including drug overdoses from illegal drugs, accidental drug overdose of prescription medications, accidental ingestion of non-medicinal household and industrial products, and ingestion of prescribed or illegal, and non-medicinal substances in an attempt to self-injure.