Top tips for parents during Child Safety Week 1-7 June

Luton Council and Safe at Home are supporting Child Safety Week, an annual community education campaign run by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT).

Throughout Child Safety Week we will be raising awareness of the hazards within the home and promoting some of CAPT’s simple steps that parents and carers can take to reduce the risk of harm to children.

Safe at Home is also offering a free telephone home safety checks for Luton households with children under the age of five years.  They will provide a room by room checklist highlighting hazards and offer top tips to help keep children safe around the home and garden. To book a safety check please apply online at https://www.safeathomecip.org.uk/apply-online/

For pregnant women, parents to be and new mums and dads living in the town, Safe at Home  will also provide free ‘Keeping Baby Safe’ one to one telephone consultations giving them the opportunity to ask questions, learn about choosing safe products and understand key safety messages to help protect their baby from avoidable injuries. To book an appointment email: safeathome@luton.gov.uk

Parents and carers can follow these top tips to help keep children safe:

1. Keep hot things out of reach – hot drinks can scald a child up to 15-20 minutes after being made as their skin is 15 times thinner than an adult – so place them where children can’t touch them. When using cookers and hobs during cooking, use the back rings first so pans are out of reach.
2. Some products are poisonous – cleaning products such as cleaners, disinfectant, bleach, and detergents or medications and toiletries can be dangerous for children – remember child Resistant lids are NOT child proof. Keep them in a locked cupboard or place them high out of the way of little hands.
3. Secure windows – as the weather warms up ensure large opening windows are kept locked or fitted with a window restrictor to prevent child falling out of them and keep furniture away from windows to prevent climbing.
4. Small things can be a choking hazard – check all low level drawers, shelves, tables to see if there are small items that your child can put in their mouth and move them out of harm’s way. Button cell batteries can kill a child within hours if accidently ingested as the battery will cause internal burns so discard old batteries safely.
5. Garden Safety – ensure children are always supervised when using paddling pools and make sure ponds are covered – children can drown in less than 5cm of water and in a matter of seconds.

Cllr Mahmood Hussain, Portfolio Holder with responsibility for children’s health and wellbeing, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with Safe At Home to support Child Safety Week. All children are susceptible to accidents but we know that the under 5s are at highest risk. Homes can have so many accident hotspots which can result in younger children suffering burns, falls or even poisoning. So it’s important parents are made aware of the hazards and are given advice to help them reduce the risk of harm to children.”

Elaine Ainsworth, Child Injury Prevention Co-ordinator, Safe at Home said: “Safe at Home is a free service helping to keep children in Luton safe. We can offer advice and information to parents and carers about how they can protect young children from injury, disability or even death from avoidable home accidents. Our free telephone home safety checks will highlight to parents the many hazards that can exist within a home as well as offer advice and information to help keep children safe around the home and in the garden.”