POISONS (In the household and garden etc.)
2 million calls were made to the Poison Help Number in
2011 and half of the calls involved children ages 5 and under. There are more than 1100 calls every day to poison centres about
children getting into cupboards and consuming medicine or poisons. 9 out of 10 poisonings occur at home, because of this it
is important to know what to do if your child accidentally finds their way into
household items and ingests something that could be dangerous.
Some tips include: - Storing household products and cleaning solutions out of kids sight and reach. Many kids are often eye-level with substances under the kitchen, bathroom and laundry sinks. - Use safety locks. Make sure to store poisonous items out of reach otherwise use safety locks on cabinets within reach of children to prevent them having access. - Read product labels to see what could be hazardous to children. Dangerous household items could be: makeup, bathroom products, plants, lead pencils, alcohol, pesticides and many more POISONS IN THE BACKYARD:
Babies, toddlers and kids love to explore and play in gardens. They think that everything in the garden is worth eating (insects, dirt, flowers, mushrooms, snail pellets etc.). Because of this watching out for dangerous plants and poisons is very important to keep your child safe. Gardens are usually safe and fun places for children however gardens are not always designed with children in mind. This means you need to think about what plants you are planting and if they could be harmful if consumed, where you place plants that may be harmful (up high and away is best), what and where fertilisers are used and other products used in the garden should be inspected before use to make sure that it wont cause a threat to your child. Keeping watch on your children in the garden is the best way to avoid danger and also a very important thing to remember to do until your child is old enough to learn not to eat strange things. |
Medications are the leading causes of child poisoning. Around 67,700 children in 2011 were sent to emergency for medicine poisoning, this is around one child every eight hours. Almost every visit was because the children and left alone and got into medicines or other chemicals.
"As children become increasingly mobile they are eager to explore. They are curious yet unaware of the dangers of medications and chemicals – potentially a lethal combination." |