children, parents, poisoning, prevention, substances

Aim: The objective was to determine whether hazardous substances are safely stored in households. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed. Methods:The sample comprised 300 parents of children attending 20 selected kindergartens.A non-standardized questionnaire developed by the study authors was used. Statistical analyses were carried out using the general linear model, chi-square test, Wilcoxon test, binomial distribution, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:Parents act to prevent unwanted cases of child poisoning in the home setting. There was astatistically significant difference in how household substances were stored (p<0.001). The largest group of hazardous household substances were cleaners (2,644), of which 676 (26%) in the reach of children. A total of 5,550 hazardous substances were found in households, including 1,215 (22%) items that could be accessed by children. There was astatistically significant differences (p=0.0484) in the number of substances in the reach of children between parents with the lowest level of education and those with tertiary education. The field of education, type of housing and place of residence had no effect on the proportion of substances unsafely stored in the home setting. Conclusion:Parents keep household substances out of the reach of children to prevent unwanted cases of poisoning. There are substances, however, that are not considered as toxic by parents.