Warning: Summer Fun Brings More Emergency Room Visits
For many Americans, summer means fun in the sun. The kids are out of school,
adults are on vacation and it's time for outdoor activities like riding bikes
and hosting barbecues. However, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) warns that summer also is the time of year consumers are most likely to
be injured.
More than 3.7 million consumers went to hospital emergency rooms with
product-related injuries in June, July and August 2001. During that summer,
about 836,000 more consumers suffered product-related injuries than in
January, February and March 2001. To avoid becoming a 2002 statistic, CPSC
advises everyone to enjoy summer activities with safety in mind.
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One of the best ways to stay safe this summer is to wear a helmet and other
safety gear when biking, skating and skateboarding, and when riding scooters,
all-terrain vehicles, and horses.
Studies on bicycle helmets have shown they can reduce the risk of head injury
by as much as 85 percent.
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Use layers of protection to prevent a swimming pool tragedy. This includes
placing barriers completely around your pool to prevent access, using door and
pool alarms, closely supervising your child and being prepared in case of an
emergency.
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Never bring charcoal grills indoors. Burning charcoal produces deadly carbon
monoxide.
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When cooking outdoors with a gas grill, check the air tubes that lead into the
burner for any blockage from insects, spiders, or food grease. Check grill
hoses for cracking, brittleness, holes, and leaks. Make sure there are no
sharp bends in the hose or tubing. If you ever detect a leak, immediately turn
off the gas at the tank and don't attempt to light the grill until the leak is
fixed. Newer grills and propane tanks have improved safety devices to prevent
gas leaks.
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Make sure your home playground is safe. Falls cause 60 percent of playground
injuries, so having a safe surface is critical. Concrete, asphalt or packed
dirt surfaces are too hard. Use at least 9 inches of wood chips or mulch.
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Use softer-than standard baseballs, safety-release bases and batting helmets
with face guards to reduce baseball-related injuries to children.
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If you are a soccer mom or dad, beware that movable soccer goals can fall over
and kill children. Make sure the goal is anchored securely at all times and
never allow anyone to climb on the net or goal framework or hang from the
cross bar. Remove nets when the goals are not in use.
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To prevent serious injuries while using a trampoline, allow only one person on
at a time, and do not allow somersaults. Use a shock-absorbing pad that
completely covers the springs and place the trampoline away from structures
and other play areas. Kids under 6-years-old should not use full-size
trampolines.
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Don't allow a game of hide-n-seek to become deadly. CPSC has received reports
of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside old cedar
chests, latch-type freezers and refrigerators, iceboxes in campers, clothes
dryers and picnic coolers. Childproof old appliances, warn children not to
play inside them.
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If summer plans include camping and you want heat inside your tent or camper,
use one of the new portable heaters that are equipped with an oxygen depletion
sensor (ODS). If oxygen levels start to fall inside your tent or camper, the
ODS automatically shuts down the heater before it can produce deadly levels of
carbon monoxide (CO). Do not attempt to use alternative sources of heat or
power to warm a tent or camper. Traditional camping heaters, charcoal grills,
camping lanterns, and gas generators also can cause CO poisoning.
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Install window guards to prevent children from falling out of open windows.
Guards should be installed in children's bedrooms, parents' bedrooms, and
other rooms where young children spend time. Or, install window stops that
permit windows to open no more than 4 inches. Whenever possible, open windows
from the top - not the bottom. Also, keep furniture away from windows to
discourage children from climbing near windows.
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Summer also means yard work. When mowing, keep small children out of the yard,
and turn the mower off if children enter the area. If the lawn slopes, mow
across the slope with the walk-behind rotary mower, never up and down. With a
riding mower, drive up and down the slope, not across it. Never carry children
on a riding mower.
CPSC
Release # 02-182
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