HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1943, Page 4

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

THIS MAKES YOU THINK.

MISHAPS IN THE HOME

(By the Department of Health.)

Recently attention has been drawn to the appallingly large number of accidents that occur in the home, particularly to children. At present the New Zealand hospitals have a disturbing number of young folk who have been victims of painful mishaps in their homes.

An analysis recently made in Britain gives emphasis to the need for using care and forethought where the welfare of the young are concerned, and it points an unforgettable lesson. In 1153 fatal home and every day accidents (excluding highway and industrial accidents) it was found that half were due to falls, nearly one-fifth to burns and scalds, and one-tenth to drowning. Other common causes were blows of various kinds, asphyxia, electrocution, misuse of fire-arms, poisoning, and explosions. Of the 582 victims of falls, 395 were over 65 years of age, and only a small proportion of the falls were due to such special war conditions as the blackout. Eighty per cent of the scalding cases occurred in children under four years of age—mostly babies who had been left near teapots or kettles of boiling water which they pulled over on themselves. Of the 143 cases of burning. 44 were children, the general causes being unguarded fires, playing with fires or lighted candles. There were 18 victims of electrocution, seven of them as the result of a combination of faulty apparatus and dampness—as,‘ for example, ironing with a faulty iron while standing on a wet floor. These tragedies do not take account of the non-fatal cases in which pain or prolonged suffering is the toll of carelessness. Proper lighting of stairs and hallways, proper guarding of fires, and more thoughtful consideration whore children and age are concerned, will prevent many of these accidents.