Children endangered by guns, household cleaners.

• Position: Domestic Accidents

Many U.S. residents who have younger children are negligent in storing guns and poisonous materials, but those whose homes youngsters only visit are significantly worse, according to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Injury Prevention Research Center, which showed that, in 55% of residences where young children live, household chemicals are stored in places accessible to them. Such compounds are not secured in 74% of homes where kids visit, says Tamera Coyne-Beasley, associate professor of pediatrics and medicine.

Meanwhile, one-third of gun owners with children under six keep a firearm unlocked at home, whereas guns are not secured in 56% of residences where kids visit. The overall odds of reported unlocked storage of guns and household poisonous chemicals are two-and-a-half times higher in residences where young children visit than in their own homes.

In a recent 12-month period, 233 unintentional firearm injuries and 93,703 poisonings occurred among children under age six.

"People need to be much more careful in keeping potentially lethal compounds and firearms safely secured," Coyne-Beasley cautions. "Every year, preventable tragedies happen because people forget how...