Many accidents to children can be prevented if a few precautions are taken.....(2)

General:

Go around the house regularly and ensure that there are no sharp edges exposed that can hurt a child.

Keep all medicines out of the reach of children. Many tablets look like candy and toddlers love to eat them. Even medicines like iron tablets and vitamins are dangerous.

Do not give leftover medicines prescribed on a previous occasion or for others to a child — it may be both inappropriate and dangerous.

Do not allow children to play unsupervised on balconies.

Do not allow children to play on the rooftop, even if supervised. Most parapet walls are not high enough to prevent a child from falling over.

Be extremely careful around stairs — infants and toddlers can easily fall down and injure themselves. If you have open stairs in a house, consider having a carpenter make a temporary safety gate until the child is old enough to use the stairs without assistance.

Do not place chains or other closed loop like objects around a child's neck. These can get caught on objects and strangulate the child.

Do not allow children to play with or handle plastic bags — these can suffocate a child if placed over the head.

Water safety:

Children have no innate fear of water and must be carefully supervised. Even a bucket with only a few inches of water at the bottom can be a death trap for a toddler who could fall into it head first.

Be extremely wary when small children are in or near swimming pools or other water bodies. Most incidents of drowning happen in the presence of the parents or other adults. It is impossible for one person to effectively supervise a group of children and one child can easily be missed in a large group.

Travel safety:

Two wheelers: No one should ride a scooter or motorcycle without wearing a helmet. Since paediatric helmets are not available, ideally no child should ride on a two-wheeler.

Children are much more prone to head injuries than adults because the size of the head is larger relative to the body and therefore children fall headfirst. Even a very low speed accident can cause serious or fatal injury.

More than two people should never ride a two-wheeler. Unfortunately, it is all too common to see entire families on the same vehicle.

Car Travel:

Ideally, all occupants in a car should wear seat belts — even low speed accidents can cause serious injury to passengers not wearing seat belts.

In addition, children should travel only in a properly designed child safety seat. Unfortunately, these are generally not available in India. In the absence of car seats, the following safety measures may be of some help.

Do not allow children to travel in the front — if the car stops suddenly, the child will be thrown forward and can sustain serious head injuries by hitting the windshield or dashboard.

Do not allow children to sit in an adult's lap. In the event of an accident, both will be thrown forward and the adult's weight will crush the child.

Wear seat belts, even if you mainly drive within the city — children emulate adults and they too will learn to use seat belts if you set an example.

However, do not fit an adult seat belt onto a child until he is old enough, otherwise serious damage can happen in the event of an accident. In general, a child can wear an adult seat belt when he is about 4.9 feet (145 cm) tall, or weighs more than 36 kg.

Do not allow children to play with items like pencils, sticks, etc. since these can injure the child or another occupant in the event of the vehicle coming to a sudden stop.

Similarly, do not keep large, unrestrained objects in the passenger compartment — these can be thrown out and injure occupants during a sudden stop.

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