Parents often spend too much time worrying about strangers and outside dangers, when the reality is that your kids are in the most danger while in their own home and surrounded by familiar people. Here’s how home dangers stack up
1. Each year there are around 3.4 million emergency room visits due to home accidents
2. About 2,000 children age 14 and under die each year from home accidents. Around 80% of these are under the age of 4
3. Around 875 children under 4 die each year form choking or suffocation.
4. Small children put toys in their mouths on an average of 20 times every hour.
5. Yearly, poison control centers receive about 2.4 million calls related to accidental poisoning in children. More than 1 million of these calls involve children under 5
6. About 117,000 children are treated in emergency
7. There are around 4.7 million pet dog attacks each year in the United States, most of which are on children. About a dozen kids are mauled to death each year, and another 400,000 to 500,000 require medical treatment.
8. 217,000 children are rushed to the hospital each year for toy-related injuries.
9. It costs an average of $700-1,500 to have an expert come in and childproof your home. This cost can be recouped in the prevention of a single injury.
10. Across the USA, around 80,000 children are taken to emergency rooms each year because of accidental poisonings involving household cleaning products, and around 30 die. About 70% of non-fatal poisonings involve children ages 1 to 2. (Consumer Product Safety Commision)
11. Microwave-related burns send around 2,000 children to the emergency room each year. (Consumer reports, “Microwave ovens,” February 2009, p.43)
12.Pets cause nearly an estimated 87,000 falls requiring emergency room treatment every year in the U.S., with most injuries occuring in children and those 35 to 54 years old, though people 75 or older suffered the most serious damage. (Jordan Lite, “Have a nice trip,” Scientific American, Vol. 300(6): 32, June 2009
13. Lawn mower accidents cause around 70,000 injuries each year, including cuts and amputations. (National Program for Playground Safety)
14 Falling TVs injure around 13,000 children each year, killing around 2-3 dozen of them. These accidents have been rising in recent years, likely due to the increased popularity of large flat screens. Yet only 27% of parents surveyed are aware of the danger, and just 3-5% had taken steps to secure televisions properly. (Painter, 2012; Parents, Sept. 2013, p. 64)
15 Around 7 children wind up in the ER each day for injuries related to electrical outlets, according to the electrical safety Foundation International. Around a third of these injuries occur when a child sticks a small object (like a paper clip) into the outlet, so keep these items out of reach.
16 According to the U.S. Product Safety Commission, 4,556 children under the age of 10 were medically treated for scissor-related injuries in 2010–72% of which were related to fingers. (Parenting, April 2013, p. 13)
- Each year, 175 children ages 14 years and under die from an unintentional gun shooting.