Accident prevention
The leading cause of preventable deaths for children under five and a major cause of ill health and serious disability is accidents. Public Health England reveals that, each year, across England:
- 62 children under five die following accidents
- 40,000 under-fives are admitted to hospital
- around 450,000 under-fives attend A&E
CAPT (Child accident prevention trust) was commissioned by the government to analyse the data on deaths and hospital admissions for the five years from 2008-12. The five main causes of serious unintentional injury for the under-fives in England are:
- Choking, suffocation and strangulation
- Falls
- Poisoning
- Burns and scalds
- Drowning
And all happen in and around the home! https://www.capt.org.uk/Pages/Category/safety-advice-injury-types for further information on how to prevent these accidents and more.
Sadly in Lewisham we have suffered 5 serious scalds in 2017.
Before your baby is born and / or at each stage of their development you can walk through your home to see how safe it is for your baby https://www.capt.org.uk/burns-scalds-parents
Use this height chart to see the possible dangers for your baby and toddler https://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/campaigns-fundraising/height-chart.pdf
