Laundry & Utility

Bright pods, strong chemicals, and machines that look like hiding spots. One locked cabinet up high solves most of this room.

The 5-minute fixes

This page is about the laundry room itself; the kitchen page covers pods near the sink and dishwasher. Laundry Pods & Detergent in the Laundry Room
CPSC has received reports of children who suffocated after crawling into appliances including clothes dryers, combination washer/dryers, freezers and old refrigerators. Climbing Into Front-Loaders & Dryers
CPSC urges a yearly professional inspection of fuel-burning heating systems: furnaces, boilers, water heaters, fireplaces, chimneys, flues and vents. Gas Water Heater & Furnace: Carbon Monoxide

Laundry Pods & Detergent in the Laundry Room
Check this firstChemicalAges 0–5
In 2024 through March 31, poison centers managed 2,240 laundry-detergent-packet exposures in children 5 and younger
National Poison Data System, America's Poison Centers (Poison Help, "Laundry Pod Safety – Detergent Packets"), cases managed as of March 31, 2024.
Climbing Into Front-Loaders & Dryers
Check this firstSituationalAges 1–7
A front-loading washer or a dryer whose door a toddler can pull open; a laundry room that stays open; a child who 'hides' in the dryer or sits in the drum; an appliance with a door that is left open to air out.
Gas Water Heater & Furnace: Carbon Monoxide
Check this firstSituationalAll ages
CPSC: more than 200 people in the US die each year from unintentional, non-fire carbon monoxide poisoning linked to consumer products; heating equipment is among the top sources
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (incl. SaferProducts.gov), 2026

Bleach & Mixing Cleaners
Worth a lookChemicalAll ages
A bucket or toilet bowl you topped up with 'a little of this and a little of that' for a big cleaning job; bleach poured in after another cleaner without rinsing; a bleach jug on the floor or a low shelf within a toddler's reach.
Dryer Lint Fires
Worth a lookSituationalAll ages
NFPA: in 2006-2010, US fire departments responded to an estimated 16,950 home fires a year involving clothes dryers or washers (92% dryers), with 34 civilian deaths and 430 injuries a year; failure to clean was the leading cause (32%)
National Fire Protection Association, J. Hall, "Home Fires Involving Clothes Dryers or Washing Machines" (September 2012; data for 2006-2010).
Radon: Test the Lowest Level of Your Home
Worth a lookChemicalAll ages
EPA estimates radon causes about 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year in the U.S., about 2,900 among people who never smoked
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2026

Solvent- & Oil-Soiled Clothes in the Dryer
Good to knowSituationalAll ages
Work clothes, rags or towels with gasoline, paint thinner, cooking oil or finishing oil on them going straight into the dryer; a warm pile of just-dried work clothes or towels that had oil or solvent on them.

What can end up in the air here, from fumes and off-gassing to combustion gases.

Our reviewed picks for the products that live here. Each one links to its category page, not to a store.

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Are your laundry pods and detergent stored up high, out of a child's sight and reach (not on top of or under the washer or dryer)?
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Do you use bleach on its own, never in the same bucket, bottle or toilet bowl as another cleaner?
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When you're not in the laundry area, are the washer and dryer kept so a young child can't open them (a locked door, or child locks on the machine doors)?
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Do you empty the dryer's lint filter every load?
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If you have a gas or oil furnace or water heater, has a qualified technician inspected it, including the vents, in the past year?
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When clothes or towels have gasoline, paint thinner or oil on them, do they skip the dryer and hang to dry?
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Have you tested the lowest lived-in level of your home for radon?
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