The weather’s warming up and we’re all beginning to migrate outside, at least for a while at weekends and when we’re not at work. This doesn’t mean just you and I, but also our children and our pets, particularly our dogs. As adults, we have an added responsibility to ensure that babies, toddlers, young children, and our furry friends are safe at all times. The best way to meet this challenge is to install safety gates and/or other outdoor safety equipment to prevent them getting into harm’s way.
What outdoor safety equipment do you have in place?
Danger Areas for Children and Pets
There is no debate that more accidents happen in the home than anywhere else. In addition to hot water burns and electrical injuries, people trip and fall, and stumble down steps and stairs, both indoors and outdoors. Young children open drawers, cabinets, and medicine cupboards and try tasting things that turn out to be potentially lethal. If children or pets manage to get out of the yard they are even more vulnerable, particularly if you live on a busy road. And there’s no doubt that after winter, when children and pets are more likely to want to play outdoors, there will be risks and hazards they may have forgotten exist outside of the coziness of indoor living, even within a fenced property.
The answer for you is to be aware of all potential dangers and to take steps to reduce the risks involved. When it comes to areas outside the house, including swimming pools and ponds, the best approach is to minimize access to any and all of these areas.
How to Make Sure That Outdoor Areas Are Safe for Children and Pets
First, you will need to assess your outdoor areas to see where potential dangers lurk. The most obvious will be water, steps, open decks, and raised patios. If you don’t have some form of fencing or railings, consider installing these to make vulnerable areas inaccessible. If you have railings around your deck or fencing around your patio, you can increase safety for children and pets by installing deck netting or a plastic shield to prevent them pushing through vertical posts and poles. This will provide peace of mind, particularly on raised decks.
Outdoor safety gates are the answer for protecting the top of stairways and steps to contain dogs and prevent babies and young children from gaining access and possibly tumbling down. Some outdoor safety gates may be used successfully at the bottom of stairs. Of course, safety gates may also be used inside to prevent children and/or pets from getting to specific areas including kitchens and bathrooms where many hazards are real!
Outdoor Safety Products from Cardinal Gates
While there is clearly no substitute for adult supervision, Cardinal Gates has a number of products that will help make outdoor areas safer than they are.
US-manufactured outdoor safety netting as well as heavy-duty outdoor deck netting that fits on decking and could be used to secure more “open” designs of perimeter or deck/patio fencing. Cardinal Gates’ UV-protected Deck Shield outdoor safety netting is 36-inches high and the netting grid size is half an inch square. It is available in several lengths, 15-foot, 30-foot, and 50-foot, to meet varied needs.
Heavy-duty outdoor netting is seven times thicker than the standard type (mentioned above). Also made in the US and UV-protected, it is 36-inches tall and 15-foot long, and the mesh size is much smaller (0.1-inch square).
If you don’t favor mesh, the company also offers a US-made solid, flexible plastic deck shield that is guaranteed not to crack for at least three years. BPA-free and rated recycle #1, it comes in rolls that are the same height and length as the heavy-duty netting.
The company also manufactures various types of pole padding and has a product called the Patio Door Guardian that may be used to make sliding doors childproof. Also effective as a security device, it enables you to lock the door leaving a 3-inch gap for ventilation.
Cardinal Gates has several outdoor safety gates for pets and/or children or babies. Examples include a 29.5-inch high safety gate made of powder-coated aluminum featuring a safety latch that toddlers will not be able to open, as well as a 20-inch high wrought iron step-over gate to contain pets.
Not all outdoor gates are suitable for child safety, and not all are suitable for use outdoors. For more information, explore our website or call us so we can help you assess your needs.
