Summer brings the opportunity for lots of fun outdoor activities, including swimming and grilling as well as home improvement projects and yard work. Unfortunately, it also tends to mean more accidents in and around your home.
What can you do to make you home a safer place this summer?
Yard work safety
Nearly 80,000 people visit the emergency room every year as a result of lawn mowing accidents, requiring about 1,400 hospitalizations and resulting in 95 fatalities annually.
To help decrease your risk of a lawn mower injury:
- Rake before mowing to prevent stones and loose debris from launching into the air.
- Always wear shoes and avoid wearing loose clothing when operating the mower.
- Wear earplugs or earmuffs to protect your ears as noise from a mower can produce sound levels above 85 decibels and can damage hearing.
- Eye protection is also a must for protection from debris that the mower may kick up.
- When refueling the mower, be sure the engine is off and cool. Never smoke while pouring gasoline or spill gas onto a hot engine.
- Make sure to never put your hands near where the grass comes out of your mower. People sometimes try to clear debris from this location and it can result in severed fingers, or worse.
According to 2005 study, approximately 9,400 children are sent to the emergency room for lawn mower-related injuries each year in the United States. Be sure that kids are a safe distance from your lawn mower and never let a child under the age of 12 use one.
With all power tools, be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully first and inspect the tool you are using for damage. If there are any problems, don’t use it.
Avoid using garden and lawn chemicals, and if you do be extra-cautious
Look for natural alternatives to pesticides and herbicides as most of these products are hazardous not only to human health, but to pets and our planet.
Pool safety
If you have a swimming pool, always supervise children that are near and in the water. A responsible adult should be there at all times to actively supervise without distractions like texting, reading or phone calls. To prevent neighborhood kids from getting in, install at least a four-foot high fence around the pool with a self-closing and self-latching gate. It should also be kept locked when there is no an adult to supervise.
Grill safety
A grill should never be used indoors. Be sure to set it up far away from deck railings, siding, branches and out from underneath eaves. It should also be a safe distance from play areas. Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the grill at all times.
The National Fire Protection Association reports that gas grills have been involved in a yearly average of 7,200 home fires, while charcoal and other solid-fueled grills were the cause of an annual average of 1,400 home fires.
Ladder safety
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 646 fatal falls in 2010, nearly two-fifths involved falls from a ladder or roof, and its been estimated that there are more than 164,000 emergency room-treated injuries in the US involving ladders each year. Make sure to follow strict latter safety rules, including those found here.
Keeping cool
Heat can also kill. The CDC reported that between 1979 and 2003, heat-related illnesses killed over 8,000 people in the U.S., which is more than hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes combined.
Be sure that everyone in your family drinks plenty of fluids when temperatures are sizzling. If you don’t have air conditioning at home, when it’s extremely hot you may need to go somewhere cool like a library, movie theater or mall.
Carefully monitor those at high risk such as the elderly and young children. Be cautious around metal surfaces like car doors as well as paved roads, which can cause burns during hot weather.
Know what’s growing in your yard
Some of the plants and flowers that are growing in your yard can be deadly. Get familiar with everything that’s growing in your yard as well as nearby areas, and inform all family members never to eat a plant, or mushroom, they find. For example, the oleander may be beautiful, but it’s so toxic that just a whiff of its fumes is considered poisonous, and eating the leaf blade of the rhubarb plant can lead to convulsions, coma or even death.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://claims-management.theclm.org/home/article/Risk-liability-lawn-mowing-injuries-personal-injury
http://www.clayton.delaware.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4708
http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/outdoors/grilling
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0009.pdf
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0009.pdf
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/landscape/poisonous-plants-resources/common-poisonous-plants-and-plant-parts
http://www.laddersafety.org/basicladdersafety.aspx
