Household Safety Advice
Australian Child Accident Prevention Foundation – Many fact sheets giving clear, concise information about subjects such as nursery equipment, toddlers, water and age related facts on child safety.
Emergency numbers
| Police – General Emergencies | Tel: 110 / 112 (SMS 1717) |
| Ambulance and Rescue | Tel: 118 |
| Fire | Tel: 113 |
| Medical Emergencies | Tel: 119 |
Equipment & toys
It is very important to remember that safety standards in Indonesia are not necessarily the same as in your home country. The onus is on you to make yourself aware of the potential for harm and how to avoid it. Standards encompassing things such as the space/ width between bars of a cot, paints used and sustainability of toys etc would have been taken care of for you in most western countries, but are not standardised here.
If you are buying off the shelf or having something made, look online for guidance & safety standards.
Car safety
Car Seats – Many people choose to bring these from their home country, as they are familiar with the safety standards and brands. You may need to do some research to make sure that you find a seat that works with what you have in your car. The onus is on you to check the job is done to a satisfactory standard.
Check our Directory for shops selling car seats
Car Safety Locks – Make sure your driver always activates the central locking system in the car especially when travelling with children. Also make your driver aware of the child safety locks in your car doors, however not all cars have child safety locks so check before you choose which car to buy.
Slippery marble floors
Marble floors pose potential hazards as even the tiniest bit of water can produce the most spectacular of falls. Many a child has chipped a tooth falling on a marble floor.
Make sure bathrooms have mats and carpet as much of the house as you are comfortable with, pad playroom and bedroom floors with inexpensive foam mats.
Check our Directory for shops selling mats and carpets.
Fires
Ask your landlord to install smoke detectors or install them yourself. A fire extinguisher is also a good idea to put out electrical fires. You can buy them at ACE Hardware.
As lighters and matches are readily available, make sure you ask your staff to keep these items out of reach of children and your children told not to touch them.
Pool
Pool fences are not legally required in Indonesia, so you may be renting a house that does not have one. Negotiate having your pool fenced and personally supervise its installation. Look specifically at spacing between bars, height of fence and gate locking mechanism. See here for information on safety standards.
If your landlord will not install a fence there are many small engineering/welding workshops about that can make one to your specifications.
Also set clear rules with your staff about pool use.
Air conditioning
Regular maintenance of air-conditioners is important. They can get mouldy and spread horrible germs around the house. Try and ‘air’ your house as often as possible to get rid of the stale, recycled air. Often maintenance is taken care of by your company or the landlord’s maintenance company.
Electricity
Electricity in Indonesia is 220 volts AC and 50 Freq/Hz. You should not have any problems with your electrical system however, the danger of electrical shocks is very real and children should be taught not to play with anything electrical i.e. appliances, outlets or cords.
Safety tips:
- Make sure your electricity is properly grounded/earthed.
- Make sure the phases are balanced which means there are not too many appliances on one circuit. Ask your landlord to rebalance it if this is the case.
- Try and negotiate new appliances, if you are paying for your own electricity this will save you money in the long run.
- Negotiate a lightning rod so that your appliances are protected should your house be hit by lightning.
- Negotiate child friendly sockets such as those that you plug in and turn to get power or ones with covers on them. If this is not possible you can buy socket inserts to protect little fingers at ACE Hardware, they now have a range of safety products by ‘dreambaby’ an Australian company. Other options are covering sockets with furntiure or insert the lid of a roll of camera film into the socket.
Security
Many companies circulate security updates to their staff. It is a good idea to register with your embassy here in case of severe security problems.