Hazards For Children At Home

The home is definitely where the heart is. But, it may also be where the danger of serious injury or death is – especially for children.

Unexpected dangers in the home

Kids and Cars: Back-over incidents now account for nearly 30% of all non-traffic fatalities involving children

Lawn Mower Backovers: It’s not just cars that present a backover problem. In the U.S., there are an estimated 9,400 lawn mower-related injuries to children under 18 every year, and of the roughly 850 children injured annually from lawn mower run-overs or back-overs, about two-thirds are injured when a ride-on mower is backing up.

Blind Cord Strangulations: According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, about one child per month dies after becoming entangled in a window blind cord–even though blind cord manufacturers stopped making pull cords ending in a loop over a decade ago.

Furniture Tip-Overs: In an average year, furniture tip-overs kill nine children, and an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people, mostly children, are injured. Between 2000 and 2005, there have been more than 100 deaths from furniture and TV tip-overs and more than 80 percent have involved young children.

Treadmills: According to a May 2005 CPSC report, 8.5% of sports activities and equipment injuries are from exercise activity and equipment, including falls from treadmills. However, falls are not the only cause of treadmill injuries, as children may be injured playing on or near the equipment as well. In fact, of the approximately 25,000 hospital-treated injuries associated with home-exercise equipment each year, as many as 8,700 affect children under 5.

From ConsumerReports.org

Our Florida homes contain just as many hazards, many of which are not covered in this article, as those in the other parts of our country. Our children may not tumble down basement steps in the dark, but they are crushed just as easily by the tip-over of a chest of drawers.