FALLS

Shopping Cart Falls

Falls from shopping carts are among the leading causes of head injuries to young children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that in recent years there were about 12,800 hospital emergency room-treated injuries annually to children 5 years and under associated with shopping carts. Of those, 5,700 were head injuries. About 25 percent were more serious head injuries such as concussions and fractures. These products are often used in hardware stores, drugstores, toy stores, and grocery stores.

To prevent falls from shopping carts:

• Use seatbelts to restrain your child in the cart seat.
• Don't allow your child to ride in the cart basket.
• Don't allow your child to ride or climb on the sides or front of the cart.
• Don't allow an older child to push the cart with another child in it.

Window Falls

Every year, thousands of young children are killed or injured in falls from windows. To help prevent these tragedies, take the following actions -- especially for windows in bedrooms.

• Safeguard your windows with window guards or window stops.
• Install window guards to prevent children from falling out of windows. (For windows on the 6th floor and below, install window guards that adults and older children can open easily in case of fire.)
• Install window stops so that windows open no more than 4 inches.
• Never depend on screens to keep children from falling out of windows.
• Whenever possible, open windows from the top - not the bottom.
• Keep furniture away from windows, to discourage children from climbing near windows.

Safety Links On This Topic

Sources: The safety tips in this section were compiled from the following great internet resources: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://www.cpsc.gov)