Childproofing in Las Vegas

Good childproofing in Las Vegas homes is less about buying every gadget and more about finding the few hazards that cause serious harm. We walk the house at a toddler's eye level with you, room by room, and agree on a short list before anything gets installed.

For most families that list covers water, tip-overs, stairs, windows and chemicals, in roughly that order of urgency here. You can supply the products or let us suggest ones that fit your doors, railings and cabinet styles.

Renters have options too: pressure gates between rooms and adhesive cabinet locks leave nothing behind, and anchor screw holes are small enough to fill at move-out.

Get Healthy Clark County states that drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death among Clark County children ages 1 to 4, and counts more than 100,000 residential pools in the county. Its advice is to layer protection: fences, door alarms, locks and spa covers between the house and the water.

On the house side, that means an alarm on each door or slider leading out to the pool, a latch mounted higher than a preschooler can reach, and gate hardware that swings shut and catches on its own. Hardware slows a child down; an adult watching the water is still the main protection.

A dog door that opens into the pool yard is a gap a toddler can use, so we check for one during the walk-through.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission found that 71 percent of child tip-over deaths involved a television. Flat screens on stands get a strap kit or a wall mount, and dressers, bookcases and toy shelves get anchored into studs, since toddlers treat open drawers as a ladder.

At a stair top, only a hardware-mounted gate is safe, because a child leaning on a pressure gate can pop it out and fall with it. When one side is a round post or iron balusters, a mounting kit lets the gate grip the post without holes in the finish.

We set gates so the swing opens away from the stairs and the latch works one-handed for an adult carrying a child.

Under-sink cabinets with cleaners, the drawer with knives and the medicine cabinet come first. Magnetic locks hide inside the door and open with a key magnet; adhesive straps suit fridges, ovens and toilet lids. Stove knob covers and an oven lock round out the kitchen.

Upstairs, window stops keep a sash from opening more than about four inches, and the better ones let an adult override them fast in a fire. Hanging blind cords get wrapped on a cleat mounted high, or replaced with cordless shades.

Bathtub spouts, fireplace hearth edges and sharp coffee table corners get soft covers. A lid lock on a front-load washer or dryer door keeps a small child from climbing inside.

Then we test everything the way a child would: pulling on it, pushing on it, and stepping on it. A lock a three-year-old can beat gets moved or swapped.