How the media tackles childhood accidents
Tumble-dryers, lamp-posts, flat screen TVs – how should the accident prevention community respond to numerically rare accidents that are heavily covered in the media?
Research into accident prevention can tell us a lot about risk. For example, we know that children are at risk from road accidents , and that pedestrian education programmes can help to lower that risk and reduce accidents. We know that young children are at risk from poisoning, and that child-resistant packaging can significantly reduce the number of incidents.
However, there are some events that are so rare that the information we have on prevention methods can’t help in answering the public’s questions. This year, three issues in particular have been highlighted in the media and are causing parents to worry:
- The tragic death of four-year-old Sonny Gibson in a tumble-dryer alerted parents to the danger of children becoming trapped. Sonny suffocated after climbing into the machine and closing the door behind him.
- In February 2010, one-year-old Tommy Hollis was killed when a lamppost toppled over during some pavement works in London.
- Stories of children being injured by falling flat screen TVs are causing parents to panic about the safety of their own set.
The question for accident prevention commissioners and practitioners is: how do we inform parents about safety measures while staying realistic about the risks?
How can we prevent these accidents?
Lamppost incidents are extremely rare. The accident that hit the headlines in February is the only one currently on record. They can be prevented by good working and inspection practices, and are primarily the responsibility of whoever is carrying out the works, and there is little that parents can do to prevent injuries resulting from falling lampposts.The Health and Safety Executive, in response to February’s incident, has released guidance on works that affect lampposts.
Tumble-dryer incidents are preventable partly by engineering but parental supervision also has a key role in preventing this sort of incident. However the risk of children playing around tumble-dryers or washing machines is not usually highlighted to parents, as the risk of suffocation is so minimal that time may be better spent alerting them to common dangers such as hot drinks, falls or road accidents.
There is some research from the US to suggest that toppling or falling TVs are becoming an accident risk. However in the UK we don’t yet know how big the problem is. There is European standardisation work in progress to address the stability of TV sets, but as yet there is no explicit guidance for parents or evidence of when and how these accidents occur. Parents can take steps to prevent TVs from falling, by ensuring that all TVs are secured according to manufacturer’s instructions, whether wall-mounted or on a flat surface, and supervising their children to ensure that they don’t climb or pull on furniture.
How should we deal with parents’ concerns?
So, what measures should we take to alert parents to these accidents? Is the media coverage of these accidents useful or does it draw attention away from more common but less newsworthy types of accident, such as falls in the home, hot drink scalds, or road accidents?
Dr Mike Hayes, Head of Research and Development for the Child Accident Prevention Trust, says: “It is important that we look at the accidents which cause the most harm, and educate parents on how to prevent them. However some accidents require solutions other than parental education – engineering solutions, or a change in health and safety practices. These accidents can open up useful discussion about safety behaviour and supervision generally, but parents should not be encouraged to take action against numerically rare accidents, if that action comes at the expense of educating them about the most common dangers.”
More information
Baby killed by falling lamppost
Children killed by falling television sets
US research on toppling TVs
In May 2009 the Centre for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Ohio) announced that nearly 15,000 under-18s were taken to accident and emergency departments between 1990 and 2007 as a result of injuries caused by toppling furniture.
Around half of all those injuries were caused by toppling TVs. The study demonstrates that there is a risk from falling TVs, but the numbers are still extremely low in comparison to other accident risks, for instance childhood poisoning or falls. Find out more about the common causes of childhood accidents in the UK.
Read the press release about US research on falling TVs