Every danger below is here because it harms Australian children at home, not because it sounds frightening. Each carries what it is, where it hides, the numbers where we have them, prevention steps, and the source. The through-line is the same everywhere: most of it is preventable.
What & where: Home bathtubs, buckets, nappy buckets, eskies, pet water bowls, and backyard/portable pools. A child can drown silently in a few centimetres of water, and near-drowning can cause permanent brain injury. In 2024–25, 15 children under 5 drowned, half of them in home pools. Toddlers are 14 times more likely than adults to be hospitalised for drowning.
Sources: Royal Life Saving, National Drowning Report 2025; AIHW, Injuries in children and adolescents 2021–22
What & where: Medicines (paracetamol tops the NSW Poisons Information Centre's list of substances), cleaning products, dishwasher and laundry pods, essential oils, garden chemicals, alcohol and certain plants. About 2,100 children a year are hospitalised for accidental poisoning, and 1,185 of them are aged 1–4. Brightly coloured pods and liquids are mistaken for food.
Sources: Australian Poisons Information Centres 2015 annual report (MJA 2018); NSW Poisons Information Centre; AIHW, Injuries in children and adolescents 2021–22
What & where: The leading cause of child injury hospitalisation: 1 in 3, about 29,000 a year (ages 0–18). Change tables, beds, high chairs, stairs, bunk beds, windows, balconies, playground and trampoline equipment.
What & where: Hot drinks, bath and tap water, stovetops, ovens, kettles, irons and hair straighteners. Scalds cause 52% of child burns, and the typical child burned is 3. A hot cup of coffee can burn a toddler's thin skin deeply.
Sources: AIHW, Injuries in children and adolescents 2021–22; Forster & Griffin, J Children & Young People's Health 2024
What & where: Food (grapes, whole nuts, sausages, hard lollies, popcorn), small toys and parts, coins, magnets, blind and curtain cords, plastic bags, and soft bedding or co-sleeping for infants. Babies under 1 are 7.5 times more likely than adults to be hospitalised for choking or suffocation.
What & where: Coin-sized lithium batteries react with saliva and can burn through a child's oesophagus within hours. Hidden in remotes, toys, watches, hearing aids, bathroom scales, thermometers, flameless candles and key finders.
Source: CHOICE, Button battery dangers (2020), citing Product Safety Australia
What & where: Many bites to children come from a family or neighbour's dog, at home, often to the face and head. Risk rises as toddlers become mobile. Often triggered by hugging, disturbing food, or approaching a resting dog.
What & where: A common cause of home play injury for school-age children. Fractures, sprains and dislocations — often when more than one child jumps at once, or from falls off the mat.
What & where: Self-harm hospitalisations rise sharply in the teenage years: 256 per 100,000 at 15–19, about 8 times the rate for under-15s (31). Linked to cyberbullying, family conflict, DV exposure and untreated distress.
Sources: AIHW, Suicide and self-harm monitoring: young people 2023–24; AIFS, Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (2021)
The same library as a quick-scan table — sorted by severity, with the age figure and the leading source at home.
| Danger | Severity | Age figure | Key figure | Leading source at home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falls | Critical | Aged 1–4: ~7,400/yr | ~29,000/yr · 1 in 3 injuries | Furniture, stairs, play equipment |
| Drowning | Critical | Aged 1–4: 179 hospitalised/yr | 15 under-5 deaths, 2024–25 · ~300 hospitalised/yr | Baths, buckets, pools |
| Poisoning | Critical | Aged 1–4: 1,185/yr (56%) | ~2,100 hospitalised/yr | Medicines, cleaners, pods |
| Burns & scalds | High | Aged 1–4: 979/yr (about half) | ~2,000 hospitalised/yr | Hot drinks, bath water, stoves |
| Choking & suffocation | High | Under 1: 114/yr | ~460 hospitalised/yr | Food, small objects, bedding |
| Self-harm (teens) | High | Ages 15–19: 256 per 100,000 | About 8 times the under-15 rate | Medications, isolation |
| Button batteries | Moderate | — | ~20 children a week to emergency | Remotes, toys, scales |
| Dog bites | Moderate | — | — | Family/neighbour dog |
| Trampoline | Moderate | — | — | Backyard trampoline |
Sources: AIHW, Injuries in children and adolescents 2021–22 · Royal Life Saving, National Drowning Report 2025 · Australian Poisons Information Centres 2015 annual report (MJA 2018) · NSW Poisons Information Centre · Forster & Griffin, J Children & Young People's Health 2024 · CHOICE, Button battery dangers (2020), citing Product Safety Australia · AIHW, Suicide and self-harm monitoring: young people 2023–24 · AIFS, Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (2021). A dash means we have no national figure for it.
The storehouse has room-by-room checklists you can work through in an afternoon — and the get-involved list sends you the printable version.
Child Safety at Home
Australian home-injury and child-harm data, made clear so it can be prevented.