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According to records collected by the National Safety Council and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 200,955 preventable injury-related deaths occurred in 2020. The overwhelming majority—78%—resulted from unintentional household injuries.
That's over 150,000 deaths in just one year due to accidents at home.
There are some dangers most people are well aware of—like fires or grabbing a live electrical wire—but there are others people are less concerned about that they need to pay attention to.
Reddit user itsmethatguyoverhere asked:
"What is the most deadly thing that most people overlook in their homes?"
CO—Carbon Monoxide
"Carbon Monoxide.The amount of people I know with no CO detector..."
"I'm in Ontario, Canada where 3/4 of single family homes have natural gas."
~ scotsman3288
"My sibling and their spouse are overprotective helicopter parents."
"I was just at their house helping with home repairs and noticed they didn't have a single smoke alarm or CO detector on the floor where all 3 of their bedrooms are."
"Such a basic thing compared to the pointless stuff I've seen them freak out about and yet they didn't seem concerned about it. Just do it!"
~ vinegarstrokes420
Cleaning Chemicals
"Some people have zero regard for mixing cleaning products."
~ w4rlok94
"Yeah, I did that once when I was in my early 20's. ONCE."
"Had to keep my windows open for two straight days..."
~ t_portch
Bleach
"Bleach is one of the most dangerous things we use regularly."
"If it is heated or mixed with vinegar it can become chlorine gas. If mixed with ammonia it makes Chloramine. If mixed with alcohol it can make chloroform."
"For a cleaner we use so often and on so many surfaces, it can be exceptionally dangerous."
~ EyeYamNegan
Watch Your Step
"Stairs."
"12,000 deaths in America per year are from falls on stairs."
~ TheJostler
"An age 50-ish friend of mine was carrying the laundry basket down to the washer in the basement, slipped, hit his head, and died."
"About that fast. Boom, gone."
~ sqqueen2
"Guy I knew in college just died a few months back from falling down the stairs. He was in his 30s."
"Apparently had a couple drinks. That's all it takes folks, life is fleeting."
~ perfektstranger
Overhead Garage Doors
"Garage doors. Specifically the springs."
~ Functionally_Human
"ESPECIALLY in cold climates."
"Replacing them is a job for a pro. Trying to get new ones properly tensioned in itself can be very dangerous."
~ ArachnomancerCarice
"It is one of the few jobs around the house that I both know how to do and refuse to do. The risk isn't worth it."
~ Functionally_Human
Dryer Lint Traps
"I’ve never understood why this is such an issue for people. I just make cleaning the lint trap a part of each load of laundry."
"It’s quick and easy and becomes part of your routine once you get used to it. No need to let it build up at all."
~ wherearethezombies
"I had a dryer that I opened up to repair the drum and there was a sheet cake sized loaf of lint inside that had gotten past the trap and built up over the years."
~ Oatybar
Stovetop
"Don't put sh*t on your stove that you don't want a flame put to."
~ ImATrollYouIdiot
"Someone in our house left a medium-sized plastic oil diffuser on the stove. While my MIL was leaving, she bumped the electric stove knob to on."
"I came downstairs after putting our youngest to bed to the entire main floor filled with thick melted plastic and whatever else smoke. The diffuser was just a puddle, I grabbed tongs and lifted what was left of the internal electronics off."
"Aired the place out, but that night I had crazy heart palpitations. We were very lucky it didn’t turn out much worse."
"Also, earlier THAT day, we had a stair contractor in to do work and he removed the fire alarm without putting it back. What are the f-ing odds‽‽"
~ goldreceiver
Bathroom
"A couple years ago I slipped and fell in the shower. Somehow managed to fall OUT of the shower slightly, hit the bottom right side of my jaw on the toilet tank cover, the tank cover fell off and broke and I flipped over and landed face up in the tub."
"I cut myself REALLY bad. And, being the idiot I was at the time—and having no health insurance—I was hoping it would stop bleeding."
"Two hours and about three towels later I finally gave in and went to the ER. They were like, you could have passed out/died from all this blood loss."
"My roommates weren't home, my best friend didn't answer her phone, and I had no one else to call for help. I tried to tough it out."
"Stupid mistake. Now I have a nasty scar and a healthy fear of slipping in the shower. It's no joke."
~ Sarahisnotamused
Dogs
"Dogs. We have four, and the number of times I’ve tripped over them in the last week is shocking."
"Eventually I’m going to die from a fall-induced head injury."
~ DieHardAmerican95
"My mom just broke her arm recently because her Bernese mountain dog came barreling through to greet my stepdad at the door and didn't see her in time."
~ aaronmccb1
Cats
"Cats will try to murder you as well."
~ sagetrees
"We have two cats. One matches the kitchen floor perfectly and one matches the stairs."
"They like to lie in their respective same color zones."
"The number of times I've almost fallen down the stairs thanks to gray stair kitty is terrifying. They don't bother moving."
"They just wait so they can eat your face when you die."
~ TyphoidLizzie
"I had mopped the floor and was walking away when my cat ran at me and I fell back and slipped on the wet floor. While I'm sobbing on the floor, she comes over and sniffed me like 'hey what's wrong?'."
"I learned to be more careful after that."
~ Sproose_Moose
Tylenol
"Tylenol. It’s incredibly easy to OD on it."
~ RENOYES
"It takes up to a week to die and it hurts the whole time. The worst part is knowing there’s nothing you can do if you change your mind."
"Too late, you have to wait to die of liver failure. That’s horrifying to me."
~ Key-Pomegranate-3507
Expired Food
"When visiting my father in his latter years, I once went through his pantry and found a huge cache of expired tin cans and plastic food packages. I wouldn’t have been alerted to this until I found an unopened, Costco-sized salsa and a bag of tortilla chips when I went looking for a snack—both were years past the expiration date."
"So much food got tossed that day."
"Each time there’s a major food recall in the news due to salmonella, etc... there’s always a number of elderly people hospitalized due to weakened immune systems."
"Pops b*tched and moaned about being wasteful, but I realized older people start losing their sense of taste and smell much like they begin losing their hearing or vision, which would explain why he put an overwhelming amount of salt on things."
~ hondo9999
Radon
"I used to always find myself behind a radon testing company truck on the way to work, so one day I finally called. Yep...we needed remediation."
"Not that expensive, but we'd been living in the home for 10+ years. Thankfully until recently we didn't use the lower levels much, but still aaagh!"
~ EatYourCheckers
Car Batteries
"Car batteries exploding in the garage. I know two people that this happened to.
"One just lost his garage—it was detached—just two doors down from me. The other couple with attached garage lost their whole house."
~ Gypsybootz
Area Rugs
"Rugs are a tripping hazard."
~ hyundaisucksbigtime
There are a lot of potential risks in the home. What would you add to the list?