Preventing Accidental Injury. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 6, 2009 Contact: Cherie Sage, 785-296-1223, or Daina Hodges, 785-296-0351

Outdoor Injury Prevention
Starts in Your Own Back Yard

Topeka, Kan. -- Each of five major child injury hazards — motor vehicles, drowning, burns, falls and poison — can be found in the back yard during the summer. Riding mowers, inflatable pools, home playground equipment and even natural vegetation and sunlight require a few simple precautions.

“All of the safety guidelines you apply to sports, playgrounds and swimming apply to those activities in your own back yard,” says Cherie Sage, State Director for Safe Kids Kansas. “A soft-sided pool needs to be surrounded by a fence, just like any other pool. A home playground needs to be anchored on an appropriate safe surface just like equipment on a public playground.”

Kiddie pools should be emptied when not in use. “Kiddie pools are just as dangerous to a small child as full-size pools — a child can drown in just a few inches of water,” says Sage.

Over 16,000 children under age 19 were treated for lawn mower-related injuries in 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports. “Lawn mowers can cause terrible devastating injuries to children’s hands, feet or faces, which can impact the rest of their lives,” reminds Sage. Treat a riding mower like any other motor vehicle: keep ignition keys out of reach and always look around before backing up. Never carry children as passengers on a lawnmower; children should stay in the house whenever a mower or other power equipment is being used.  Children should be 12 years old before they operate any lawn mower, and at least 16 years old for a ride-on mower.
In addition, Safe Kids Kansas recommends these precautions for activities in the back yard:

• Role model proper safety behavior. Children are more likely to follow safety rules when they see their parents doing so.
   
•  Always supervise your children in the back yard or at playgrounds.  Make sure your home playground surface is safe. Keep 12 inches of safe surfacing, such as mulch, shredded rubber or fine sand, extending at least six feet in all directions around the equipment. Remove hood and neck drawstrings from your child’s clothing, and don’t allow them to play on equipment while wearing scarves, necklaces, or bike helmets.
   
• If you have a pool or a spa, it should be surrounded on all four sides by a fence at least four feet high with self-closing, self-latching gates, and it should be equipped with an anti-entrapment drain cover and safety vacuum release system. An inflatable pool needs to be surrounded by a fence, just like any other pool, and parents need to empty these pools when not in use.
   
• Allow children to perform age-appropriate yard work only under supervision.  Don’t allow a child to attempt tasks inappropriate for his or her age, size, strength, cognitive ability or prior experience.
   
• Make sure your children wear a properly fitting helmet and other protective gear every time they ride their bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, and other wheeled toys.
• Remove potential poisons from your yard, including poisonous plants, pesticides and pool chemicals. Teach kids not to handle or eat any part of a plant unless you know it is safe.
• Keep children away from the grill area while preheating and cooking and while the grill is cooling.
   
• Following the manufacturer’s instructions carefully, apply insect repellent to a child’s clothing and exposed skin. (Check with your pediatrician if you have any questions about the instructions.)
   
• Teach children not to disturb or feed any wild animals, no matter how harmless the animals may seem.
   
• Apply sunscreen rated SPF 15 or higher to your child’s exposed skin 15 to 30 minutes before going out, and reapply frequently. (It is possible to get a sunburn in cloudy conditions.)
   
• Make sure your child drinks plenty of water. A child who seems tired or achy should rest in the shade or go inside for a while. Get immediate medical help any time a child’s skin is hot to the touch (with or without perspiration), if a child has a seizure, or if they become disoriented in hot weather.
   
• Walk all the way around a parked vehicle to check for children before entering a car and starting the motor.  Don’t let children play in driveways, streets, parking lots or unfenced yards adjacent to busy streets.
   
• Never leave a child alone in a vehicle.  Even with the windows cracked, a vehicle can reach dangerous temperatures in only a few minutes.
   

For more information about summer safety, visit: www.usa.safekids.org.

Safe Kids Kansas, Inc. is a nonprofit Coalition of over 70 statewide organizations and businesses dedicated to preventing accidental injuries to Kansas children ages 0-14.   Local coalitions and chapters are located in Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Clay, Coffey, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Elk, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Labette, Leavenworth, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Mitchell, Montgomery, Osage, Pottawatomie, Rice, Riley, Saline, Smith, Shawnee, Wilson and Woodson Counties, as well as the cities of Chanute, Emporia, Leavenworth, Pittsburg, the Wichita Area (including Butler, Harvey, Sumner and Sedgwick counties) and the Metro Kansas City Area (Wyandotte county and several Missouri counties.)  Safe Kids Kansas a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury. The lead agency for Safe Kids Kansas is the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Visit us at www.safekidskansas.org.