More than 6,500 children received treatment at A &E units at Liverpool hospitals for accidents in their homes during the last year.
Now the city council’s Healthy Homes team is holding a Roadshow – as part of Child Safety Week – to provide advice and information about what the most common hazards are for children in the home and how to prevent them.
The Roadshow will be in Clayton Square on June 28 and 29.
Staff, who have received training from RoSPA, will be on hand to offer tips and help parents become more aware of potential dangers in their home. They will be handing out leaflets on a range of issues from what might poison children to the safety of toys.
Among the messages which will be given out are:
• Keep hot drinks out of young children’s reach
• Use the rings at the back of the cooker and turn pan handles out of reach
• Replace your chip pan with an electric deep fat fryer
• Use safety gates to keep small children out of the kitchen
• Keep all cleaning products in a high shelf or a locked cupboard
• Keep tablets and medication out of reach
• Teach children to sit down when they are eating to avoid choking
Councillor Jane Corbett, Cabinet member for children’s services, said: “The figures show that most accidents to children happen in their home and this week will focus attention on what can be done to limit hazards and increase safety.
“While, obviously , the most important thing is to prevent children coming to harm, we can also reduce the burden on hospitals and cut down the number of visits to GPs by following some simple safety advice.”
- Between April 2011 and March 2012, 6,154 children attended Alder Hey Hospital because of injuries caused by accidents in the home and a further 407 attended the Royal Liverpool emergency department.
The most common form of accident was falls, followed by being “crushed, jammed or pinched in or between objects
