Top 10 accident prevention messages

During Child Safety Week we have focused on the top 10 accident prevention messages to help you keep your children safe.

1. Every day 11 toddlers are rushed into hospital because it’s thought they’ve swallowed something dangerous. Detergent capsules and concentrated detergents are really convenient but pose new risks to young children. If yours are under the sink, take a couple of minutes to move them to a high cupboard or one with a lock, away from little hands.
2. Remember some 3-4 year olds can open child ‘resistant caps in seconds (child ‘resistant’ doesn’t mean child ‘proof’), so keep medicines in a locked or high cupboard too. Don’t forget the painkillers in your handbag!
3. Six toddlers are admitted to hospital every day because they’ve been so badly burned. A hot drink can burn a young child even 15 minutes after it has been made, so put your baby down before you pick up yours and don’t pass hot drinks over children’s heads.
4. A 1/3 of children and young people injured crossing the road admit they didn’t stop at the kerb and just as many said they didn’t even look.
5. At least 2 children every year die after getting caught in a blind cord and being strangled. It takes seconds to tie yours back round a hook to keep loops out of reach of climbing children. Move children’s cots, beds and highchairs away from window blinds too.
6. In five seconds a toddler’s skin can be burned so badly by hot tap water that they need to go to hospital. So take a second to put the cold water in first and top up with hot, then test the water with your elbow, to reduce the risk of your child being burned.
7. Hair straighteners stay hot enough to badly burn a child 8 minutes after being unplugged. So take a moment to lift them off the floor or the door handle and put them where they can’t be reached.
8. Every day 45 toddlers are admitted to hospital after a fall. Take the time to fit a window lock so it will only open to 6cm (2.5 inches). Falling downstairs can damage your babies brain as well as their body so make sure you use safety gates on stairs.
9. Thick, black smoke from a fire can fill your home in minutes and kill your child in seconds. So get a smoke alarm fitted on every level of your home and test it regularly.
10. Toddlers can choke on food that’s too big, even just the size of a grape. Take a minute to cut their food up into small pieces.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) is the UK’s leading charity working to reduce the number of children and young people killed, disabled or seriously injured in accidents, without ‘wrapping them in cotton wool’. Further information about CAPT is available at www.capt.org.uk/