Playing it safe with potential hazards of summer
By Alan J. Heavens
Knight Ridder News Service
With all the playing and working we do during the summer months comes a higher risk of accidents around the house.
That's why June is annually designated National Safety Month by the Home Safety Council, a national nonprofit group.
Even though much of the available research is more than five years old, it offers a clear picture of the state of home safety:
Nearly 20,000 deaths associated with unintentional injury occurred in the home, representing a rate of 7.15 deaths for every 100,000 people in the United States.
Nonfatal injuries at home prompted more than 20 million medical visits, including nearly 10 million visits each to emergency departments and private physicians' offices.
The leading causes of home-injury death were falls, accounting for 6,756 deaths, and poisonings, accounting for 5,758.
Older adults, men and women, experienced the highest rates of unintentional home-injury death among all age groups, with people older than 75 experiencing injury deaths at a rate three to 10 times higher than younger people.
Most accidents are preventable. For example, adding a banister to a stairway will greatly reduce the risk of falls. So will keeping clutter and children's toys off the stairs, and adding lighting to eliminate shadows that might cause people with deteriorating eyesight to lose their footing. Check stairs for popped nails and loose treads.
Bathrooms are equally dangerous, and the remedies are similar to those for stairs: Add grab bars to the shower or bathtub. Use bath mats with nonskid backs so they will not slide across damp tile floors when you step on them. (The same holds true for throw rugs.)
Poison control is especially important in homes with children. Your first step is to post the poison-control hotline number near all your telephones: (800) 222-1222.
Make sure all cabinets, medicine and otherwise, are childproof. Keep medicine out of reach, get rid of prescription drugs that have expired, and store household chemicals in safe places.
You will deal more with insects in the summer, so be careful where you spray. Children and pets that come into contact with insecticides can become ill.
Cooking outdoors? Never leave the grill unattended. Make sure you keep a fire extinguisher nearby in case of an emergency.
Do you have a swimming pool? Most insurers will not write you a policy unless your yard is completely fenced in, and premiums for those policies are typically higher. The Home Safety Council makes the following recommendations:
Pool fencing should be at least five feet high and have self-locking and self-closing gates. Gate latches should be out of children's reach.
Make sure there is a life vest available.
Never let children in the pool or ocean unsupervised.
When using power tools indoors or outdoors, do you wear safety glasses?
Probably not. According to statistics compiled by the National Safety Council, a disabling injury occurs every five seconds, often in connection with a home-repair or home-improvement project.
In a single year, nearly seven million Americans are injured while engaged in a project around the house. Although a survey showed that 82 percent of respondents claimed to regularly use safety goggles, the National Safety Council says that more than one million Americans sustain eye injuries each year, and that 90 percent of these accidents could be prevented by using protective eyewear.
Few do-it-yourselfers use earplugs or earmuffs while working with loud power tools or lawn mowers, even though the safety council says that 30 million people are exposed to noise that damages hearing.
Even fewer wear hard hats, even though 450,000 emergency-room visits each year are the result of being struck by falling objects, the safety council says. And 25 percent of all emergency-room visits are the result of injuries that occur around the house. The most common untreated injuries included dirt in the eye, cuts, and hitting fingers with a hammer.
Before you embark on a home-improvement project, understand the potential hazards that may be involved and plan accordingly.
Choose safety eyewear designed for each job. For example, your spectacles may have safety lenses, but that does not mean the impact of flying debris will not shatter the lens. Conversely, not all safety goggles will protect you from splashed chemicals.
Do not drape an extension cord over an area you will repeatedly traverse during the project, because you are bound to trip over it. As you complete portions of the project, clean up the area, removing spent nails and screws, pieces of scrap lumber or drywall.
Wear the right kind of respiratory equipment. A disposable dust mask with a single strap reduces only the amount of pollen or nontoxic dust you could inhale. Government-approved respirators, which are available in home centers and hardware stores, are better protection from toxic dust and fumes from chemical strippers used in refinishing furniture.
Other kinds of filters should be used for spray painting or pesticide application. Follow product guidelines. Wear gloves or work clothes to protect your skin from contact with pesticides.
Ventilate properly. Never strip furniture in a closed room. Open windows, use fans, make sure the polluted air is constantly being replaced by fresh air.
Keep a fire extinguisher or bucket of sand handy.
Keep clothing, hair and jewelry from becoming entangled in power tools.
