The
early every day, Dr.
Norman Rosenberg
sees the evidence of
homes that haven't
been child-proofed.
And it isn't pretty.
As director of
emergency services
at Children's Hospital of Michi-
gan in Detroit, Dr. Rosenberg es-
timates that more than 10
percent of the patients who visit
his emergency room each year
have suffered an accident in the
home. In fact, he has treated mul-
tiple burns, bruises, broken bones
and abrasions that could have
been prevented with simple mea-
sures.
"Some things you can't avoid,"
Dr. Rosenberg said. "like when a
toddler is walking and he trips
and hurts himself. That is just
part of childhood.
"But something as easy as
turning down the temperature on
a water heater could save a child
from a burn," he said.
Each year in the United States,
more children under the age of 14
die as a result of an accidental in-
jury than from illness and disease
combined. Thousands more are
maimed or injured.
While falls account for most of
the injuries, burns and poisonings
are not far behind. And even
though stairwells and other walk-
ways are dangerous places, the
areas of the home where most ac-
cidental injuries occur are the
kitchen and the bathroom, places
where sharp objects, hot materi-
als and toxic cleaning agents gen-
erally are accessible.
"That is also where children
tend to spend most of their time,"
Dr. Rosenberg said.
Part of the problem is that chil-
dren are naturally curious, said
Diane Saincome of D & M Tod-
dler Safety Inc., a child-safety con-
sulting business based in Novi.
"They want to. know what will
happen if they put something in
their mouth or if they turn a
faucet on," she said. "They don't
know that they can be hurt."
N
Each year
thousands of
children die or are
injured in accidents
in the home. Many
of the incidents are
preventable.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
STAFF WRITER
Place
Another problem is that par-
ents and other adults don't
know what constitutes a danger
to children. A cup of coffee left
on a kitchen table, for instance,
can be a danger; the steam curl-
ing up from the hot liquid can
fascinate children enough to
make them grab for the cup and
accidentally spill its contents
onto themselves.
"This is something adults
have always done (leaving a cup
unattended), and they haven't
been hurt. But a child can and
does get hurt, usually very
quickly," said Mark Saincome,
co-owner of D & M Toddler Safe-
ty. "There is no time to react."
To remedy this, child-safety
companies like D & M have
sprouted in the past few years,
offering in-home consultations
and installing safety devices for
a fee. Ms. Saincome said her
company averages four consul-
tations a week.
'We will spend an hour and a
half in the home just walking
through and pointing out haz-
ards," she said. "Our mission is
to educate the adults." El
Key To Home
Safety
he following is a partial
list of child safety
suggestions from Dr.
Norman Rosenberg, di-
rector of emergency services at
Children's Hospital of Michigan;
Diane and Mark Saincome, own-
ers of D & M Toddler Safety in
Novi; and the United States Con-
sumer Product Safety Commis-
sion.
General areas
* Keep all electrical outlets cov-
ered when not in use. The Sain-
comes suggest the use of electrical
outlet covers that slide closed
when an appliance is not in use.
Plastic plug caps have been
known to break, leaving the un-
secured part as a choking hazard.
• Make sure all appliance cords
ILLUSTRATION BY JANE SANDERS
are not left to dangle. A child can
become entwined in the cord and
strangle himself or could trip over
a cord on the ground. An appli-
ance can also be pulled from its
resting place if the cord is left to
dangle.
• Secure all rugs to limit the
amount of tripping hazards.
• Place safety gates at the tops
and bottoms of all stairwells. The
Saincomes rec"rnmend the use of
gates with vertical slats as op-
posed to mesh or gates with a
criss-crossed pattern.
"Those gates are easy to climb.
A child can get a toe-hold and
push herself right over the top,"
he said.
• Lock up all caustic cleaning
agents.
• Vertical blind and drapery
cords are a strangulation hazard;
118 children were strangled in
this manner between 1981 and
1991. All such cords should be
bound up out of the reach of a
child.
• Empty all buckets of water
in the house. Between 1984 and
1991, more than 200 children
'drowned in such accidents.
• Plastic bags should be kept
out of reach of children; 112
children were suffocated and
more suffered brain injury be-
tween 1980 and 1987 because of
bags.
Kitchen
• Keep all drawers and cup-
boards within a child's reach se-
cured with locks or latches,