Garden – Water Butt Safety

With an ever increasing awareness to conserving water, please be careful with your garden bins and any water butts that you use. It has been the case that children have fallen into these types of bins. Children have drowned in containers with just inches of water in them.

Place your water butts on stands out of reach of children and don’t forget to place heavy weighted covers onto the top of the containers to prevent children from opening them.

Poor v’s Rich – Children’s Accidents

Two million children a year visit A&E because they have been hurt in an accident, and not enough has been done to tackle the problem, which is thought to cost the NHS £149m a year.

A report, produced with the Healthcare Commission, had found “shocking” inequalities in rates of accidents in children from poor families.

Injuries such as those caused by burns, falling down the stairs and poisoning are a leading cause of death and illness in those aged one to 14 years old. In recent years the number of deaths from accidents in children has fallen, according to the report.

However, inequalities between the poorest and more affluent families are widening. In 1999 the government set a target to reduce the death rates from accidents (in all age groups) by at least one fifth and to reduce the rate of serious injury from accidents by at least one tenth by 2010.

Why do children have accidents?

Because children are often absorbed in their own immediate interests they can be oblivious to their surroundings. They only have a limited perception of the environment because of their lack of experience or development. They are not aware of the consequences of the many new situations that they encounter daily.

 

Small Stature
This may prevent a child from seeing above an obstruction or being seen by an adult.

 

Inquisitiveness
Curiosity and a spirit of adventure may lead a child into danger.

 

Bravado and Horseplay
Boys are particularly prone to showing off and over reaching their abilities, especially among friends. Many accidents are caused by horseplay involving pushing, shoving and wrestling.

 

Stress
Tensions at home and emotional upsets caused by temper, jealousy and over excitement may cause a child to run blindly into danger. Such action may even be deliberate to seek attention.

 

Inexperience
A child’s interpretation of a situation may be inaccurate and adults looking after small children should be aware not to expect too much of them.

 

Inadequate supervision

Children need constant supervision. Medicines, pills and toxic substances should be locked away and fires and stairs should be guarded.

DIY & Children

DIY is a national pastime in this country, so much so that we even watch TV programmes about it. Teams of experts are called in to sort out someone else’s mess – generally because they’ve started it and either didn’t have the skills or couldn’t be bothered to finish it – and now their children live in a building site.

DIY may seem like a jolly hobby to most people, but it really isn’t something to do unless you have a certain amount of knowledge, experience and safety awareness. Every year 70 people are killed carrying out do-it-yourself work and 250,000 are injured – many seriously. Whether you are an experienced enthusiast or a reluctant part-timer, taking a few minutes to plan what’s to be done could mean the difference between tackling a job safely and successfully or courting disaster, especially when there are children around.

Firstly, keep a tool box tidy for easy access and always use the cover guards which come with tools such as saws, knives and chisel blades. If you have your tool box with you, make sure that you lock it as soon as you have found what you are looking for. It will only take you a few seconds, and is the best way to keep curious little hands out of there. In the couple of minutes it takes you to concentrate on the shelf you are putting up, a child can easily get hold of a sharp tool or a handful of screws. For every accident involving a drill, there are ten from small and supposedly ‘harmless’ bits of metal.

If using chemicals, make sure you use what you need to, keeping it as high as possible off the floor while you do so and then lock it away immediately – don’t wait until you have finished the job.

Don’t under-estimate how long a job will take. If you start to run out of time, don’t be tempted to rush or take a short cut like leaving tools lying around or worse, plugged in. Tiredness is a big factor in many accidents, so give yourself a break. If a job is going to take a long time, it might be best to arrange for the children to be elsewhere while you do it as they may well get both bored and curious, which adds pressure to you to speed up.

If you have older children who want to get involved, again, allow plenty of time and don’t get frustrated with them! Equally, make sure they know the rules: Choose the right tools and protective equipment for the job (goggles and gloves are basics here). Don’t wear loose clothing or jewelry and tie back long hair, or put it under a hat.

And remember to keep water away from anything electric – and that includes soft drinks in cans or cups..

If they are older, make sure they read instructions and warnings, especially if they are using a piece of equipment for the first time. Make sure you keep manuals for equipment if you’re buying it new and that you explain the proper use of tools you already have and that they are not toys!

With this in mind, buy equipment and household appliances that are made to a British or European standard or carry an approved product quality and safety mark. There will be a label on the product.

If you have very small children around while you are using electrical equipment, make sure you unplug it between uses and that you use a socket guard (as you probably would do anyway) while the tool is unplugged. Switch sockets off in addition, as they are very tempting for small fingers.

If you are painting, take extra care with old paint. Some old paint could give off harmful dust and pose a poisoning hazard if ingested by small children. You must not burn off old paint or rub it down with dry sandpaper or a power sander; you should clean up properly, using a high efficiency industrial vacuum cleaner with heavy duty filters (you can hire these from most large DIY stores). A free leaflet giving more detailed advice on this topic is available from: PO Box 236, Wetherby, LS23 7NB or by ringing 0870-1226-236 (fax 237)

Basics…

First Aid kit – Have a basic First Aid kit easily accessible and make sure you know what to do wit it’s contents. Have a charged up mobile to hand in case whatever happens puts your phone out of action. If the accident is to do with something that has been swallowed, keep the container close by so you can tell the emergency services what is was.

RCDs (Residual Current Devices) – these can respond to changes in the flow of electric current. For example, when a flex or cable is cut or an electric tool malfunctions, and direct contact is made with a mains supply conductor and earth, the RCD automatically disconnects the power supply to the equipment to reduce the risk of you being electrocuted. Again, your local electrical retailer should be able to give you advice on a range of RCD’s but if you are unsure, ask an electrician to help you out with fitting them.

Ladders – out of bounds for children unless supervised and even then only at a low level. Never allow children to put ladders up themselves as they could lean them on window sills or guttering – the worst places possible.

Accidents at home study

Almost three million hospital visits occur in the UK each year because of accidents in the home, with a million of those due to a slip, trip, or a fall, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Unfortunately, about three thousand of those accidents are fatal.

According to a paper published in Inderscience’s International Journal of Environment and Pollution, however, it may not be the obvious things that are ultimately responsible for injury and even death in the home. David Ormandy, Principal Research Fellow in Law at the University of Warwick claims that the very design of houses could make accidents more likely. In the UK, you are twenty times more likely to have an accident in the home than to win the national lottery, he says.

The team at Warwick Law School devised a method that takes into account both the frequency of particular types of accident and the severity of their outcomes to help produce a true picture of accident rank order. Ormandy points out that, while human behaviour is a major contributing factor, dwelling design and condition could have more of an impact on accident rates than previously thought. In support of his hypothesis, Analysis of data from LARES (Large Analysis and Review of European housing and health Status) carried out by Dr Richard Moore, also suggest links between dwelling condition and accidental home injuries.

“We expect our homes to be a place of safety for us and our families,” Ormandy says, “but injuries from home accidents and even deaths are a major, but under-rated, public health problem and certainly an under-rated housing problem.”

Ormandy’s paper suggests that campaigns to promote home safety awareness, while going some way towards reducing the number and severity of injuries, do not place enough emphasis on housing action. Immediate steps could be taken to make homes safer, based on existing research on the safe design of housing features, such as stairs and windows, for instance.

Fixing secure handrails to stairs halves the likelihood of a fall, while restricting openings in stairs, balconies, and windows to 10 centimetres helps prevent small children from falling through. Hand-bars on bathtubs and showers also help prevent falls. Such modifications are relatively inexpensive and so should be incorporated into housing improvement programmes and the design of new homes.

Ormandy adds that researchers need to collect more information on the relationship between the design of houses and ongoing maintenance and condition in accidental home injuries.

Accidents at home – Children

Accidental injuries are a major health problem throughout the United Kingdom. They are the commonest cause of death in children over one year of age. Every year they leave many thousands permanently disabled or disfigured.

Over 1 million children under the age of 15 experience accidents in and around the home every year, for which they are taken to Accident and Emergency Units. Many more are treated by General Practitioners and by parents and carers.

Those most at risk from a home accident are the 0-4 years age group. Falls account for the majority of non-fatal accidents whilst the highest number of deaths are due to fire. Most of these accidents are preventable through increased awareness, improvements in the home environment and greater product safety.