The Yard Safety Guide
We all want our environment to be safe, but too often, our focus is on the dangers out in the world, not of those in our own backyard. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, children who are 14 years of age or under are seven times more likely to die from accidents than homicides. Armed with that information, it is important to do all we can to protect ourselves and our families by making our yards a safe place to relax, work, and play. Educating yourself and your children about yard safety, and making simple repairs can go a long way to creating a safe environment.
Home Safety Council Top safety tips, prevention of falls, poisoning, fire and water. Includes disaster preparedness
Georgia Insurance Yard safety article that includes: Being prepared, water safety and electrical safety.
Web MD A Safe Backyard for Kids
Family Summer Fun Pool and playground safety
Water Safety How to make a safe pool station, tips for a lecture and demonstration of use
Early Childhood Ways to Prevent Outdoor Injuries to Children
Maintaining safe areas can assure that your family and guests are free to move about with the limited risk of injury. That can be accomplished by making sure there are no dangerous items about the yard, such as garden or repair tools. Pick up anything that can poke or scratch someone, any nails, glass or other sharp debris, like thorny branches. Secure items like lawn mowers, poisons, lawn products, pool chemicals or gasoline containers, such things can be intriguing to young children. Ladders are especially alluring to children who love to climb and explore, properly store any ladders in the closed position, flat or horizontal, in a closed storage area to prevent children from playing or climbing on the equipment.
Setting up boundaries or put up fences to keep children within safe areas, can prevent both intruders and prevent young children from roaming outside of the supervision of an adult. Enforcing rules about boundaries with your children can go a long way to prevent unnecessary accidents and stress the importance of personal safety. keep stairways and walk ways free of debris and in good repair, roll up hoses or cords so that no one will trip and try to keep tiled areas dry to avoid slipping. Playground equipment such as swing sets, slides and teeter-totters should be well-maintained and equipment like a trampoline should be surrounded by a protective screen.
Always teach children and out of area guests to be aware of their surroundings, depending on the region in which you reside there may be many natural dangers. Some areas are prone to Africanized honeybees, others may have poisonous snakes or insects, and a few areas even have crocodiles or alligators. While the regional wildlife may be interesting to look at, it is important that both residents and visitors understand that wildlife is just that, wild. To feed, or otherwise interact with, wild animals may create a consistent problem, encouraging wildlife to occupy residential areas is both dangerous and can invite foreign organisms and bacteria into your environment.
Always remember to wear plenty of sun-screen, even if the temperature feels cool, or the sky is slightly overcast, the sun can still give you a very bad burn even under those conditions. Wearing sunscreen is crucial to prevent sunburns and in extreme sun poisoning brought on my dangerously high exposure to sunlight and UV rays. It is also important to use the proper SPF level of sun block and to apply sun block frequently throughout the day. To encourage children to wear sun screen, manufacturers have come out with kids friendly products that incorporate color into the sun block. The color fades when the sun screen is properly applied. Consider using such products to teach young children about the importance of skin care and the benefits of sun screen. Some areas have plant life that can be hazardous, try to remove any known growths from your yard if possible, but if you cannot be sure to make others aware of the danger.
Barbeque's and fire pits can be great items for entertaining, but children must be taught to steer clear of them, it only takes a second to touch a hot grill or trip into a fire and be seriously burned. In fire pit areas always keep a bucket of sand, water, or a fire extinguisher nearby, in order to extinguish a fire quickly. It is also important to teach children about proper safety in the event of a fire, family drills and taking to your children about fire safety in general can be beneficial in any setting. Water however, can also have its dangers. Drowning incidents are all to common in warmer climates and can be easily avoided with proper safety precautions. Be sure to have pools fenced and gated, or if there are no children in the home make sure that your yard is walled or fenced off to prevent children from roaming in near your pool or hot tub unsupervised. Standing or stagnant water can also be a hazard. It only takes a couple of inches of water to drown a person, no matter if they are young or an adult. Remove any buckets or containers containing water from the area. Standing water in any form can also act as a breeding ground for insects and bacteria. To prevent disease from mosquitoes, aside from putting on bug repellent regularly, be sure to change out the water in birdbaths every couple of days and do not let water accumulate in any kind of container including gutters to prevent the laying of eggs.
Child Safety Australia Play area safety, animals, poisonous plants, sun protection and pools
Keep Kids Healthy Backyard pool safety.
San Diego Fire & Safety Lawn mowing and landscaping safety tips
Healthy Children Backyard safety with links for categories like: At play, on the go, all around and also immunizations.
Outdoor Safety Backyard safety article with list of related links
If we were to see a ladder leaning against the house or a large branch dangling from a tree, we would recognize it as a hazard and take care of it, but it is often the little things that can be scary. In the long run, supervision of children is key, but by taking the time to review your yard and making it safer, chances are you can save yourself from the most common of injuries.
Buzzle Outdoor fire pit safety tips
Nat'l Network for Childcare Making playground areas safe
Wall Street Journal Is rubber mulch landscaping a safe option?
Safe Kids Which Garden Plants are Unsafe for Children?
eHow Videos on childproofing for backyard safety, backyard wild animal safety, poisonous plants, animal droppings and fire safety.
