How safe is your Garden?
Summertime in the garden means barbeques, paddling pools and lots of fun for the kids. It also brings out the gardener in us – that very English pastime which so many of us enjoy.
Gardens are great, but they do have their hazards.
Almost half of accidents involve adults but almost a quarter involve children and 14% infants and toddlers.
How to Make Sure Your Garden Stays Safe:
• Firstly check fences and gates to ensure they are secure.
• Keep borders trimmed back so that sharp leaves or thorns don't scratch smaller children's faces and eyes as they walk, run or ride past. Best to avoid prickly or thorny shrubs if you can.
• Also, make children aware of dangerous plants and the hazards of eating them. Some plants can also cut quite badly such as pampas grass whose long stems are extremely sharp and can easily slice your hand.
Toys, Equipment and Surfaces
• Surfaces in and around the garden can be hazardous like driveways and steps. If possible, replace gravel with a solid surface as gravel can be a choke and cut hazard for children of all ages, and older children like to throw it.
• Check paving is fitted properly, especially on steps and that they are replaced as soon as cracks appear or they work loose. They can be a major trip hazard, which could prove very nasty if they result in a head injury.
• When children are riding bicycles at home on the drive or in the garden, they should still wear a safety helmet. There is absolutely no difference between a driveway or path and a road.
DIY and Power Tools
• If you do a lot of garden DIY, don't leave tools lying around. This may sound obvious, but it is very easy to have a break that turns into a quick sandwich, which is all the time it needs for a tool to be found and 'played' with, or at the least the cable tripped over.
• Ensure that power tools have a cut off switch in them (an RCD – residual current device) and that you unplug them as soon as you are finished with them. Store them in a locked garage on a high shelf and make it clear that they are out of bounds for safety reasons. Make sure that children know that when you are using them they are not to play near you, especially if you are using a step ladder or ladder as these are easily knocked.
Chemicals
Make sure that chemicals such as weed or insect killer are also locked away and that children are not in the vicinity when they are used. Ensure that children do not play near sprayed plants either as they may well touch them and transfer some of the chemicals into their mouths or eyes.
Ponds and Water
• Water play should be cleared away at the end of the day with paddling pools especially needing to be emptied and stored away; they can fill up enough with rain overnight to present a drowning hazard to small children by morning.
• Ponds can be dangerous for obvious reasons so fence them off, make sure they are out of bounds or better still, fill them in. You could cover them with netting or chicken wire if it is a
small pond, to prevent children falling in, but that's not so great aesthetically and there is still a risk. You can always have a bird bath or smaller water feature that doesn't pose a threat of drowning until your children are much older.
And Finally...
In hotter weather, barbeques are the perfect way to relax but make sure you never leave children alone while it is lit as the excitement can lead to curiosity. Make sure it is thoroughly out at the end of the day and left to cool down. Equally, ensure plates and cutlery, if used, are cleared straight away to avoid accidents and try to use paper plates and plastic cups instead of glasses and china plates where children are concerned – it saves on the washing up too.
