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The following is a distribution of the causes of accidents
as a result of which 45 people in Britain lose their lives on the
average every day:
TRAVEL.
On the road 14
On the railways 1
In air or water transport 1
Total 16
PLACE OF WORK.
In factories 2
In coal mines 1
In farms, quarries and other places of work 2
Total 5
IN AND AROUND THE HOME.
Inside the home 17
In ordinary pursuits around the home 7
Total 24
In pre-school children the number of deaths resulting from
accidents is three times as high as that from common infectious
diseases. Of the 20,000 deaths of "under fives" which occur
in this country every year 1,000 are due to misadventure.
The loss of life from home accidents is greater than that on the
roads.
About three quarters of home accidents fall into two groups
of injury:
(1) Falls, which account for about 60 per cent, of the
fatalities —chiefly among the elderly.
(2) Burns and scalds which account for 15 per cent. —
mostly children in the 1-5 age range.
The pre-disposing causes of falls are defective hearing, poor
eyesight and attacks of giddiness: here, safe stairs, proper
lighting, non-slippery floors and adequate hand rails are among
the important factors in prevention.
In the second group, the greatest source of danger is the
unprotected coal fire. The Heating Appliances (Fireguards)
Act 1952, prohibits the sale of gas fires, electric fires and oil
heaters which are not fitted with proper guards, but there are
still many inadequately protected appliances in use which were
manufactured and sold before the Act became operative and
these remain a serious danger. Scalds most commonly result
from tea making.