Official Site Records Significant Numbers of Home Accidents Annually

Recent investigations done by Sharon Ring, Director of the company Concepts of Spring LLP, show that home based accidents are on the increase across the western world. Her results, which have focused mainly on the USA up until recently, suggest over again that such accidents are most definitely avoidable. She quotes a set of statistics from a UK based organisation called RoSPA who are dedicated to alert parents to such avoidable incidents:

“More than two million children under the age of 15 experience accidents in and around the home every year, for which they are taken to accident and emergency unitsOver 76,000 children under the age of 14 are admitted for treatment of which over 40% are under 5 years of ageEvery year over 62 children under 14 die as a result of an accident in the homeAround 25,000 under-fives attend A&E departments each year after being accidentally poisoned Boys have more accidents than girlsThe cost to society of UK home accident injuries has been estimated at £45.63billion ($68.44 billion) annually.”

She flags up that the USA has a population of nearly 5 times that of the UK, so to get a more realistic picture of the extent of this avoidable scenario, Americans must multiply these figures by 5.

Her report confirms that not all incidents are the result of poisoning, but a large number of under 5 year olds have to be admitted to hospital after playing with poisonous substances taken from kitchen cupboards. Again she quotes RoSPA’s findings:

“More than 28,000 children receive treatment for poisoning, or suspected poisoning accidents every year. We would like to draw parents' attention to the importance of storing chemical items such as laundry detergents in a lockable cupboard, out of the reach of children.

Some of the most serious accidents happen in the home, particularly in the kitchen, and RoSPA has been made aware of cases involving young children who have been injured after biting into or placing colourful liquitab detergents in their mouths, after mistaking them for sweets.”

Sharon believes that all parents should seriously consider ways of child-proofing their homes – especially their kitchen areas. Her Concepts of Spring company website offers a useful guide on how to do this and promotes their flagship product the Spring Safe and Sound magnetic safety lock system as a way of significantly reducing the incidents of such preventable accidents.