How to Keep Children and Pets Safe around Radiators

When most people think about radiators, they don't think about them as something particularly dangerous. However, when you think about it in more depth, you can understand the risks and perils.  They contain very hot water and this can lead to burns.

There are several different ways in which radiators can cause injury. For example, the radiators themselves can become very hot during use, and if a pet or child accidentally falls on a hot radiator, they can receive burns.  These burns tend to be relatively minor as the pet or child will quickly move once they feel the heat. 

Another example is when a radiator becomes damaged and starts squirting out very hot water.  This is a much more serious problem and can lead to second-degree, and even third-degree, burns.

In this article, we are going to explore how you can keep your child and pet safe around your radiators.

Make sure the radiators conform to British Safety Standards

I am assuming that you live in Britain. If so, you must ensure that the radiators you by conform to British safety standards.  There is legislation governing the production of radiators and, in part, it addresses the need to ensure all valves and parts are heat resistant and unlikely to fail. 

If you buy cheap radiators online, you might be buying them from unregulated markets, such as China. You should never do this. Whilst you will have to pay more for buying them in the UK, you can still find comparatively cheap radiators here. They just can't compete with unregulated markets. 

And, that's not to say that all Chinese imports are bad. Some of them will conform to safety standards. However, it's much safer for you to buy these via the online UK-based retailers, and not directly from the Chinese markets as the UK retailers will have had the products tested to ensure they conform. 

Have Your Radiators Serviced Annually

An annual service allows you to locate issues early - before they become a problem. A plumber will be able to fix any leaky valves or any problems that might be leading to pressure build-up in your central heating system. 

They’ll be able to find those weak points and correct them. 

Use a Radiator Cover

A secured radiator cover (i.e. one that you secure to the wall, rather than leaving freestanding - I used a free-standing one once and it fell on my nephew, so you must secure it to avoid issues like that. Bless him - he's so cute!) will help to protect your pets and children from touching the radiator directly. 

They should never get hot enough to cause any type of burn. A bonus here is that you can use them to cover the radiator if you opted to buy cheap radiators online (UK radiators, of course!) and you dislike the style. It's a win-win. 

I hope you found this article useful and that you put these steps into practice.