Ms. Connie LAU, JP
Chief Executive
Consumer Council
11th February 2012
Introduction
- According to the "World report on child injury prevention" published by World Health Organization (WHO), every day around the world the lives of more than 2,000 families are torn apart by the loss of a child to an unintentional injury or so-called "accident" that could have been prevented.
- The landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by almost all governments around the world, states that all children have a right to a safe environment and to protection from injury and violence.
- Contrary to common belief, child injuries remain a problem even in high-income countries, accounting for 40% of all child deaths.
- Unintentional injuries are also a major cause of disabilities, which can have a long-lasting impact on all faces of children’s lives. For injury survivors, the need for care and rehabilitation of the injury and the potential for permanent disability can have far-reaching impacts on their future, their health, education, social inclusion and on their parents' livelihood.
Why are children vulnerable to injuries?
- As children develop, their curiosity and need to experiment do not always match their ability to understand or to respond to danger, leaving them at risk of injury.
- A number of physical characteristics make children vulnerable to injuries. For example, a particular amount of a poisonous substance will more likely be toxic for a child than an adult because of the child's smaller body mass. Children's smaller size also creates a risk of entrapment of body parts, most dangerously for the head.
- New products are often designed without taking into consideration their possible uses by children and the consequent harm.
Beware of home accidents
- Unlikely as it seems, our comfortable home and its surroundings can be potentially dangerous for children.
- Awareness of the potential hazards and some sensible precaution by parents and adults will go a long way to prevent child accidents at home.
- Parents have to be mindful of the following hazards common among domestic child accidents: impact by heavy objects, drowning, suffocation, poisoning.
Impact by heavy objects – Heavy TV sets
- There have been accidents where children are fatally injured by a heavy TV set that toppled over on them.
- Advice to consumers:
- Use the TV stand by the original TV manufacturer, if available; alternatively, use other stands or furniture that are specially designed for such purpose.
- In purchasing these products, check if the product catalogues or labels indicate that the furniture can safely support a TV set of the required weight and size.
- Cabinets with drawers which can be pulled out in the front are not suitable for placing a heavy TV set on the top unless the cabinet is securely attached to the wall by screws or other means. Due to leverage effect, the TV set can easily topple over whenever the drawer receives a downward pressure in its pull-out position.
- The supporting surface for a traditional TV set should be deep enough Page 3 of 8 preferably with 5 cm of extra clearance in the front.
Drowning – Washing Machines
- - To the curious young children at home, washers may sometimes be mistaken as a potential toy – and safety trap. There have been intermittent reports of children in drowning accidents involving this product.
- - In general, the European (horizontal axis) type models were judged to be able to provide a better overall safety protection design.
First, the lid is securely locked and cannot be opened whilst in operation – until the wash cycle is completed.
Second, the drum is filled with less water thus a lower risk of drowning.
Third, especially in the European top loaders, the lid and the opening of the drum are of a design and size small enough to prevent a child from accidentally falling into the machine. - The Japanese (vertical axis) impeller type top loaders, on the other hand, usually provide a bigger opening, and a full drum of water.
Child Safety Features:- Child locks which enable the top lid to be latched against opening upon activation by the user – much like the European models.
- "Beep-and-drain-later" protection, under which the lid could still be opened (to facilitate the addition of more laundry) but an alarm would be set off and the mechanical movements stopped. If the lid remains opened after 5 to 10 seconds, the water would be drained off automatically.
- Always keep an eye on young children while the washer is in operation, and ensure they do not get close to the machine by themselves.
Suffocation – Cribs with Drop-sides
- A drop-side is a movable side of the crib that gives parents or caregivers easier access to the infants in the crib.
- When the drop-side is loosened and detached from a crib, there is a risk that the infant may get stuck in the gap between the crib mattress and the drop-side, causing injury or even death of the infant.
- The detachment of drop-side may be caused by improper installation or wear and tear of the hardware. It is also found that the track and rails, drop-sides and stabilizer bars are more likely to be assembled incorrectly.
- The gap between slats should not be wider than 6 cm.
- Advice to Consumers:
- Make sure the size of the crib will fit in where it will be placed and should highlight these as most of accidents in the past covers about sub-standard slat width.
- Check if the mattress base is adjustable to cater for the growth of the infant.
- The height of the sides should be at least 60 cm when measured from the mattress base at its lowest position.
- Use bumper pad to prevent the infant from bumping into the sides of the crib. Make sure the strings for tying the pad are kept to the shortest possible and cannot be reached by the infant. - The size of the mattress should match with the crib, not too big or too small. The mattress should not be too thick and it is advisable not to use more than one mattress.
- Some cribs can be fixed with wheels. Check if there is locking device on the wheels and try out if they work properly.
Suffocation – Folding Tables
- Toddlers may treat the folding table as a toy, and try to turn it over. However, they may be trapped between the foldable legs and find it difficult to get out from them.
- Most of the fatal accidents happen when a folding table is turned over. A young child may get between the table legs, and sit on one of the horizontal bars of the folding table. If the table legs are not properly locked, they will easily fold up and catch the child between the bars, leading to subsequently strangulation to death. Once trapped by the table legs, it is almost impossible for the child to extricate himself from the grip of the table legs, as it will get tighter when the child struggles harder. If there is no adult around, the chance of the child being rescued is slim.
- Advice to Consumers
- Choose a sturdy folding table which has a reliable safety lock, and always activate the safety device when the table is open for use.
- Teach children not to climb onto the table, and not to put too much weight on one side to avoid overturning the table.
- Advise children not to overturn the folding table for play and never crawl or hide between the foldable legs of the table.
- If you have toddlers at home, always fix the folded table securely close to the wall, so that it will not fall down and hurt the toddler.
Poisoning - Medicines
- Children are often drawn to medications because they are colourful and may look like food or drinks, particularly those with sweet taste or fruity scents. Therefore, it is important to keep medicines well out of reach and out of sight of young children.
- Put medicines in a safe place that is high up where a child will not be able to reach even if they were to attempt climbing up a counter to reach them. It is best to keep medicines in a locked cabinet.
- Distribution of poisons in containers without child resistant closures increases the likelihood of poisoning. Even when properly contained and labeled, young children are at risk if containers are not stored appropriately by adults.
- Child resistant does not mean child proof and that young children may still be able to open the package. Child-resistant caps may slow a child down, they are not child-proof.
Poisoning – Household cleaner
- According to the Hong Kong Poison Control Network, there were about 100 cases of poisoning by household product reported each year in Hong Kong.
- About 10% of poisoning cases due to household products occurred in young children, and all of them were accidental in nature.
- Accidental poisoning has involved a large range of household products including bubble bath, silica gel, stainless steel cleaner, etc.
Advice to parents:
- Keep household cleaners in the original containers. - Store all household cleaners in locked cabinets. Keep all household cleaners out of reach of children.
- Never put household cleaners in containers which are originally used to store food and drinks. This is the commonest cause of accidental poison ingestion.
The Unthinkable
Poisoning – Household chemicals
- Some innocuous-seeming items are easily mistaken for food by small children and some older people. Cigarettes, alcohol, perfume, aromatherapy oils and mouthwash can all be poisonous to children.
Hand warmer refills
- Cases of 2 seniors in their eighties and 1 five-year-old eating the hand warmer refills were reported to the Hospital Authority last year. The refill packets, imported from Japan, had only Japanese writing on the outside. Suggestion: imported commercial packaging should have additional labels in Chinese and English.
Toilet block cleaners in jelly form
- - There were 3 cases of poisoning last year from consuming jellied toilet block cleaner, all 3 were small children aged between 9 and 22 months old.
- - The toilet block cleaners named as “凍” resemble jelly, which is a welcome food for children.
- - Children have to be told very clearly not to eat it. The producers of the toilet block cleaner might consider making it look less like food.
Swallowing of foreign objects – High-powered Magnets
- High-powered magnets are intended to be desk toys and stress relievers for adults, who can use them to create patterns and build shapes. The products are often sold in sets of 200 or more. It is extremely difficult for a parent to know if a magnet is missing from a set.
- These magnets are so powerful that children and teenagers use them to mimic body piercings, such as nose and tongue piercings or studs, and accidentally swallow them.
- The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received 22 reports of magnet incidents involving children between the ages of 18 months and 15 years old since June 2009.
- In 11 incidents, the magnets had to be removed by surgery. When a magnet has to be removed surgically, it also can require repairing the child's damaged Page 8 of 8 stomach and intestines.
- Advice to Consumers:
- Keep small magnets and small pieces containing magnets away from young children who might swallow them.
- Look out for loose magnet pieces – regularly inspect toys and children’s play areas for missing or dislodged magnets.
Concluding remarks
- Safety standards only provide protection to some limited extent.
- Parents are urged to take positive measures and actions, such as the use of kitchen door fence. Children and toddlers in particular should not be left without adult supervision.
- Reducing the risk of injury for children requires the involvement and commitment of a broad range of groups including governments, NGOs, the commercial sector, academia, the media, teachers and community leaders, parents, and young people themselves.