How to Identify and Eliminate Home Safety Hazards

This article is reviewed by Dr. Leong and is intended for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your GP or a qualified health professional for guidance specific to your household, particularly if you have elderly family members or young children at home.

Most home accidents are not dramatic. They are ordinary and preventable such as a cluttered hallway, a dim staircase, a stove left on a moment too long. But they are also common enough that GPs in Singapore see the consequences of them every week.

As Dr Leong Choon Kit puts it, in our practice, we see many home related injuries — and the patterns behind them are consistent enough to be genuinely useful to know in advance.

To find out more about making your home safer against these home safety hazards, we interviewed Dr Leong to walk through what really causes home injuries in Singapore, who is most at risk, and what practical changes make the biggest difference.

1. The Home Injuries Singapore GPs See Most Often

Asked what brings patients in most often, Dr Leong is specific: cuts, laceration, contusion from kicking or walking into furniture and falls are the most common. The latter two, he notes, are particularly common among elderlies. A distinction that runs through much of the rest of his clinical observations.

One trend Dr Leong has noticed becoming more frequent is injuries from household pets. There is also a rising trend of patients coming in with bites and wounds from their pets, namely dogs and cats, he says.

As pet ownership in Singapore continues to grow, so does this category of injury. A useful reminder that home safety extends beyond the usual list of trip hazards and sharp corners.

These common injuries set up a distinction Dr Leong returns to throughout the conversation: some hazards affect everyone in a household roughly equally, while others are disproportionately dangerous for specific groups. Elderly residents most of all.

2. Elderly Safety at Home — The Highest-Risk Group

When asked which home hazards concern him most for elderly patients, Dr Leong doesn’t hesitate: the most common injuries among the elderlies are from cuts, lacerations and fall. He walks through several plausible reasons behind this pattern, each with its own practical fix.

Clear the Clutter

First, he says, there may be too many clutters in the house. So we will advise their family members help them declutter the house. For elderly residents without nearby family support, Dr Leong points to a resource many people don’t think to use: if they need additional help, we will bring in the volunteers from the grassroots organisations or any voluntary groups.

Fix the Lighting

Second, many of their houses are poorly lit, Dr Leong explains. We will advise them to fix their lights and use them all the time. He highlights one situation in particular: this is a problem when the elderlies have to wake up in the middle of the night to visit the toilets. His suggested fix is simple and low-cost such as installing a sensor activated night light can be useful.

Install Grab Bars

Third, Dr Leong notes, the elderlies need things to grab or hold when they move around the house. So installing grab bars in strategic places are essential. Specifically, he says, this can be in the toilet and also along the wall in the different rooms and the living room.

Let Someone Else Handle the Knife

On the subject of cuts and lacerations specifically, Dr Leong’s advice is straightforward: we will advise them to let other household members help them do the cutting. Removing one of the more common sources of injury entirely, rather than trying to manage the risk.

Landed Homes: The Staircase Problem

Asked whether HDB flats and landed homes present different risks, Dr Leong says the two are generally similar, with one clear exception. In private landed homes, the staircase can be a challenge for the elderlies, he explains. His advice in these cases is direct: we would usually advise the family members to house their older folks on the ground floor to avoid having to climb the stairs.

Don’t Forget the Booster

Dr Leong closes his advice on elderly safety with something that isn’t obviously about the home at all , vaccination. Finally, we will advise them to be up to date with their booster for tetanus, he says.

It is done once in 10 years. He adds an important detail about what that booster now covers: nowadays we administer the Tdap for the elderlies to also prevent diphtheria and pertussis as well.

If a cut or wound has you thinking about your own vaccination status, our guide on whooping cough in Singapore explains why this combined vaccine matters more than most people realise.

3. Medication Safety — A Growing Risk in Singapore Homes

On medication stored at home, Dr Leong describes a pattern that is more common than many people realise: today, many families keep medicines at home. These can be those bought over the counter at the pharmacy or medicines dispensed by their GPs and specialists.

He also flags a habit worth pausing on: some patients I know even collate unused medicines from their friends and relatives for personal use.

The core risk, as Dr Leong explains it, comes down to how medication is designed for the body taking it. Any medicines prescribed for adult would be dangerous if ingested by a child, he says.

The dosing is different. And the characteristics or the profile of the medicine may not be safe enough for a growing child and their body organs.

If your home has accumulated medication you no longer need, including anything inherited from relatives, proper disposal matters as much as safe storage.

Our guide on how to dispose of old medication covers how to do this safely rather than simply leaving unused medicines in a drawer.

4. What To Do If a Child Swallows Something

On what to do in the moment a parent suspects their child has swallowed something dangerous, Dr Leong is honest about the limits of phone advice: at our clinic, we do not dispense medical advice without first seeing a patient. 

His guidance is instead about the next concrete step: so, we will either ask them to bring the child to see us or advise them to bring their child to the children emergency.

The practical takeaway for parents is not to wait and see. If a child has swallowed something and you are unsure how serious it is, treat it as a reason to get them seen quickly rather than a wait-and-monitor situation.

Knowing when a child’s symptoms warrant urgent attention is a skill worth building generally.

Our guide on how to check for appendicitis in children at home covers another situation where recognising the signs early makes a real difference.

5. The Most Underestimated Risk: Fire

Asked which home hazard patients least expect to mention until after something has happened, Dr Leong answers without hesitation: fire risk must be the least thought about. He points to a specific and recurring pattern among his elderly patients: the elderlies who cook often forgot to turn off the stove leading to kitchen fire.

He also flags a more modern version of the same risk. Some of them may also buy cheap electrical products that need charging, he says. These can also pose fire risks as they may not pass the fire standards in Singapore.

“Fire risk must be the least thought about.” — Dr Leong Choon Kit

Checking for proper safety certification marks before buying charging cables, power banks, or small appliances is a simple habit that meaningfully reduces this risk, alongside the basic discipline of never leaving a stove unattended.

6. Household Chemicals — Misuse, Not Malice

When it comes to chemical safety, Dr Leong’s clinical experience points somewhere most people wouldn’t expect. So far, most of the chemical burn seen at my clinic are the various ointment and complimentary medical products they apply on their skin, he explains.

Often these products claim to be helpful for arthritis. And the elderlies then tend to over apply them resulting in skin burn and infection.

He describes a related and fairly striking pattern involving a household staple most people consider harmless: some old folks locally may also use strong antiseptic like Dettol on their skin.

Often they do not follow instructions on the label. They would apply these directly onto their skin without diluting them and washing these off.

“Most of the chemical burn seen at my clinic are the various ointment and complimentary medical products they apply on their skin… often these products claim to be helpful for arthritis.” — Dr Leong Choon Kit

Interestingly, Dr Leong notes that the products people usually associate with chemical danger are not actually the main culprits. Less commonly abused or dangerous chemicals would be the various toilet and dish washing chemicals like chlorox or shampoo, he says. So far, most elderlies would not over use these.

It is a useful reminder that chemical safety at home is not only about locking away obviously dangerous substances. It is also about reading labels on things that feel familiar and harmless.

7. Should You Get a Formal Home Safety Review?

Asked whether households with elderly members or young children should consider a formal home safety review, Dr Leong’s answer is unequivocal: yes, certainly they should do it once a year.

He is also clear that this doesn’t need to involve a doctor from the outset: the family members can do it themselves. But for households that want additional guidance, the option is there — and if they need help and advice from their enrolled GP or FP, they can discuss with the doctors.

Enrolling with a GP under the Healthier SG scheme makes this kind of ongoing, preventive conversation more accessible and more affordable for most Singapore households.