Our Child Safety Blog

February 2025; Holiday Home Safety with Little Ones.

Holiday homes are not always geared up for little ones. Just because a cot and a highchair may be provided this doesn’t mean they have minimised or removed all the key child safety hazards.

Depending on the age of your child or children - the main issues to think about when staying in holiday accommodation are;

Items falling on Children

Can heavy or bulky home decoration, high stools or vases be pulled down on top of them? If yes – relocate these.

Strangulation on blind cords

Does the property have any long cords on their blinds or curtains? Children can strangle themselves on these. Make sure these are tied up! A property should provide something to be able to tie loose cords onto.

Climbing and falling out of windows

You may well have the windows open. Check whether there are furniture items that can be climbed on in order to reach the height of the windows and whether the windows have restrictors on them. If not then there is a risk that your child may fall out of the window. Move furniture away so they cannot climb up to the window. If possible limit which windows you open.

Finger entrapment

Fingers can be trapped in doors and cupboards very easily, especially in hinges. Keep doors closed that are not in use. Bringing a few heavy duty door stops to prevent open doors from moving may be useful.

Poisoning

Many properties leave cleaning chemicals inside the property. Often under the sink or in a low level cupboard. This may even include chemicals for cleaning the properly inbetween guests so possible may include liquid laundry tabs and high strength chemicals. Locate the cleaning equipment when you arrive. If they are low down, lift onto a counter top or relocate to a high cupboard.

Falls from beds

Your little one may be in an unusual bed, so may be more likely to fall out of bed. A bed guard is useful if you have an bigger child. Bunk Beds can also be a forgotten risk – The top bunk shouldn’t be used by a child under 6.

Suffocation in unusual bed environment

You may find yourself co-sleeping on holiday. Its worth remembering that adult beds can be too soft for babies and they can suffocate on the big blankets and pillows that we use in adult beds. Familarise yourself with how to co-sleep more safely so that you are ready in case this happens whilst you are away.

Slips in the bath

Baths are slippery and without a bath mat slips and falls are far more likely. Many places will provide a bath mat on request. If this is available to you then take advantage. If you are going somewhere where this isn’t an available service it may be worth packing an anti slip bath mat.

Suffocation on nappy sacks

Most likely everything you use to change nappies will be contained in a single location which may be far more accessible than it would be at home. Remember nappy sacks can be dangerous in the hands of small children and they can suffocate on or in them. Keep these up high and out of reach.

Other things to bear in mind…

We tend to drink more alcohol on holiday and can be more distracted. Both mean we are not always paying attention where we may be at home so its not always practical just to rely on adult supervision to avoid risks.

JULY 2024; Introducing Child Accident Prevention as a topic

Introducing child safety as a new topic or feature? Use these tips to help raise awareness to parents and caregivers on home safety and child accident prevention.

Safety at home is often forgotten as a topic, but unfortunately the home is also the place where accidents that result in injuries are most likely to occur. Every year around 6,000 people die in accidents in the home and nearly three million attend accident and emergency departments seeking treatment.*

The most severe injuries are associated with heat-related accidents and falls from a height. Older children are more likely to sustain fractures than younger counterparts. Younger children have a higher percentage of burns and scalds as well as poisoning and ingestion accidents.*

Falls are by far the most common causes of accidents in the home; they account for 44 per cent of all children's accidents*

• Fit safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs for children up to 24 months old.

• Never leave tripping hazards on the stairs.

• Fit child resistant window restrictors but make sure you can get out easily in an emergency.

• Do not put anything under the window that can be climbed on to prevent children reaching open windows.

• Secure furniture and televisions to the wall with easy to use anchor straps to prevent furniture tip overs.

Hot drinks cause most scalds to children under the age of five*

• Never hold a hot drink and a child at the same time.

• Put hot drinks out of reach and away from the edges of tables and worktops.

Hot bath water is responsible for the highest number of fatal and severe scalding injuries among young children*

• When running a bath turn the cold water on first and always test the water temperature with your elbow before letting a child get into the bath or shower.

Children can also suffer burns after contact with open fires, a cooker, irons, curling tongs and hair straighteners, cigarettes, matches, cigarette lighters and many other hot surfaces*

• Always use rear cooker rings and turn the pan handles to the side so hands cannot reach up to them.

• Keep hot irons, curling tongs and hair straighteners out of reach even when cooling down and use heat protection pouches where possible.

At least 33 young children across the UK have died because of looped blind cords since 2001 – that’s one or two children each year – and there will be many more near misses. Tie up loose blind cord cables with BS safety standard compliant Clips or cleats. https://www.rospa.com/campaigns-fundraising/current/blind-cord

*Data from RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents)

MAY 2024 - How do you choose a safety gate?

When your little one starts crawling you may want to consider installing safety gates in various places to prevent access and barrier off key risks in your home.

You can get safety gates or barriers to prevent access to stairs, barrier off fireplaces, sit in door frames to prevent access to kitchens or balconies. Some gates and barriers can stretch over huge distances and some are designed just for doorways. Some are metal, some are wooden, and some are even fabric.

How on earth do you pick?

Well to start, figure out where you want barriers – What are you trying to prevent access to?

Then measure how wide the space is and keep this measurement in hand when shopping as you will need to check the safety gate is able to cover this width.

It can sometimes be difficult to locate a gate where you really want it, simply due to the layout of your home. Look for alternative locations. Half way along the landing for instance, instead of the top of the stairs, or even on the child’s bedroom door. A single gate at the entrance to the Kitchen can keep a child away from the many dangers present here, such as hot surfaces, sharp objects, finger traps and hot fluids.

If you can, go for a fitted gate. There are two main fixing styles you will see mentioned when shopping. “Fitted/Screw Fit” and “Pressure”. A fitted gate is always much more secure than a pressure gate.

A ‘fitted’ gate requires you to drill into the wall or door frame to secure the gate, whilst the other uses pressure to stay in place. However many ‘pressure’ gates also rely on wall cups which need drilling into the wall so are not true ‘pressure’ gates.

Pressure gates also have a bar that you must step over at the base of the gate. These can be a trip hazard so are not recommended for places where injury from falls could be more dangerous – eg at the top of stairs.

The first thing to check when you are considering a safety gate is whether it conforms to the safety standard for gates – EN1930. If it’s not written on in the description, check with the retailer directly.

You don’t have to spend a lot to buy a safety gate, you can get a fitted gate to fit across a standard door frame for about £30. There are plenty that are more expensive, however if the one you are looking at conforms to the EN1930 standard then you can be confident that it is made to a good quality and that it will operate safely.

From a safety perspective it doesn’t matter what the material of the gate is – this is just for your own preference or aesthetics.

Other things to bear in mind.

Safety gates are only tested to be suitable for children up to 24 months. So from 2 years old you need to be considering that your child may actually end up endangering themselves by interacting with a stair gate. They may climb on it, they may be able to open it. They may even be able to pull it off the wall. Safety gates are not tested to the strength of children over 24 months.

It is really important to use the template provided when fitting the gate, as this ensures the height below the gate does not introduce a gap hazard once fitted. Skirting boards for instance, can interfere with the bottom hinge or the bottom fixing depending on which way round the gate is.

DO NOT BE TEMPTED to simply install the gate above the skirting. The installation height from floor level is critical, as it ensures minimum risk of limb entrapment and is specified within the safety standard that governs the safety of their use.

Never ever use two safety gates on top of each other. Children have died whilst climbing up these and having caught their head and bodies in between the two gates.

All gates on the UK market are provided with wood screws only. They are OK for installing into Newel posts on stairs for instance, or wooden door frames, but for wall fixing you will need to source fixings and plugs appropriate to the wall material.

Last but not least, the EN 1930 standard only applies when the gate is actually closed, ie is acting as a barrier. This means that when the gate is open, other risks will be present, including finger or joint entrapment and blunt edges to run into. Bear this in mind when selecting your gate. It makes it even more important to keep the gate closed whenever it is not being used for access.

APRIL 2024 -Child Safety and Accident Prevention - Safety Made Simple

Simple changes for parents to stop the scariest accidents.

There are five main ways children get injured in the home –

Falls.
Poisonings.
Threats to breathing – choking suffocation and strangulation.
Drowning.
Burns and Scalds

Some simple ways to make a big difference –

1) Secure furniture and televisions to prevent tip overs as they can be unstable and top heavy. This becomes more important when children start to explore climbing. If straps are not provided with the furniture make sure to purchase your own. https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice/product/flat-screen-tvs

2) Keep furniture away from windows to prevent children climbing up to access to open windows. Use window restrictors to keep windows from opening fully.

3) Keep hot drinks away from counter edges, always push them to the back of the counter. https://www.cbtrust.org.uk/burn-prevention/awareness-campaigns/hot-drinks/

4) Use cupboard locks to secure cupboards with chemicals or medicines in. Keep medicines locked away and out of reach of children.

5) Tie up loose blind cord cables. Children can be strangled on these. https://www.makeitsafe.org.uk/

6) Always use rear cooker rings and turn the pan handles to the side so hands cannot reach up to them.

7) Keep hot irons, curling tongs and hair straighteners out of reach even when cooling down and use heat protection pouches to store them. https://www.cbtrust.org.uk/hair-straighteners-2/

8) When running a bath turn the cold water on first and always test the water temperature with your elbow before letting a child get into the bath or shower.

9) Beware of magnetic toys which may contain super strong magnets. If these magnets are ingested, they can cause life threatening injuries. https://capt.org.uk/magnet-safety/

10) Keep button batteries in mind – even old ones. Keep them stored safely away from children. Be aware of toys that may use button batteries and ensure battery compartments are extremely secure. Button batteries if ingested can also cause exceptional injuries. https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/conditions-we-treat/button-batteries-using-them-safely/