Safety is a very important issue for children. Every year between 20-25% of all children sustain an injury requiring medical attention. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in people from ages 1-34 years (congenital illnesses are number one from birth to 1 year of age). Also, for every childhood death from injury there are 34 hospitalizations, 1000 emergency room visits, and an exorbitant numbers of visits to school nurses and physicians.

Motor vehicle accidents are the number 1 cause of death of all injuries. Both crashes and pedestrian related accidents account for an average of 10,000 deaths a year in children from ages 1-18 years and countless numbers of injuries.

Bicycle accidents account for over 600,000 emergency room visits per year with almost 800 deaths. Drowning is the second most common cause of injury related death in children, followed by fires/burns, falls, and poisoning.

There are about 10,000 firework related injuries per year, over 2 million calls to poison control centers, around 3500 deaths from residential fires, 200,000 emergency room visits for playground injuries per year, and 2.5 million emergency room visits for falls each year.

If visits to school nurses, private physicians, and home treatment are included it is estimated that a childhood injury is happening somewhere almost continuously.

With this in mind, it is important to be aware of the types of injuries children can sustain and to take any preventative measure possible. With proper preventative measures in place, most injuries can be avoided.

 

| Child Safety | Birth to 5 Months | 6 Months to 1 Year | 1 Year to 3 Years |

| 4 Years to 7 Years | 8 Years to 11 Years | 12 Years to 18 Years |

| Further Reading |