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their feet and explore the world around them although the smaller numbers reported
among the other children may in part be due to less frequent visiting; secondly, that
boys had 26 per cent, more accidents than girls—this is probably due to greater inquisitiveness
rather than clumsiness or fragility; thirdly, that burns and scalds accounted
for the bulk of accidents. Details of the immediate agencies of burns were:
Open fire 29
Electric iron 21
Kitchen stove 9
Hot object 7
Electric fire 5
Gas fire 2
Oil stove 2
Lotions 2
Miscellaneous 16
93
In practically all cases arising from open fires there was either no fireguard or it had
been temporarily removed to make up the fire; in one instance the guard had been
placed round the sink to prevent the children playing with the water! As regards electric
irons few children pulled the flex—the burn almost always came from touching the iron,
which shows no visible sign of heat. Although reliance has to be placed on the mother's
account of the circumstances of the accident it was noticeable how many accidents were
stated to have occurred whilst she was answering the door.
As regards scalds the accidents arose mainly from tea (35), kettles (33) and other hot
liquids (20)—in only two cases were baths concerned. Most of the incidents involving
tea concerned children who managed to reach cups or pots on the table—there were few
cases of pulling the cloth; a fair number of the kettle incidents however were due to
pulling on the flex of an electric kettle.
As regards the 72 falls these included falling from windows (unguarded), down
stairs (gate unlatched), from high chairs (child unsecured), but most were due to play,
cramped conditions or the action of another child.
The poisons and foreign objects include aspirin (5), turpentine (3), disinfectant (2),
iron tablets (2) and a number of individual items such as a cigarette end, toadstool,
furniture polish, toy, surgical spirit and so on ; in the great majority of instances the
items were, as they should not have been, accessible to the child—there was one case
where a mother forgot to wash out a disinfectant from a feeding bottle.
'Hitting or hit by object' concerned doors which were run into or caused pinched
fingers, assaults (by other children), mangles, swings, furniture, etc. Cuts, though
comparatively few, were severe—milk bottles were the most common agency—children
fell on them and fell with them. The miscellaneous group included such things as a
child pushing a nail up its nose and a match into its ear—it also included assault by
another child.
The greater proportion of these accidents to children were, it is considered, preventable—it
is appreciated that mothers have many distractions, that housing conditions
are often far from ideal, that one cannot always stop a healthy inquisitive child from
getting into mischief or from falling, although the provision of suitable playthings may
help. Lack of fireguards, leaving hot liquids and poisons accessible to children, failing to
secure them in high chairs or leaving gates on stairs unfastened are all due to thoughtlessness
and/or negligence. This is an aspect of the danger to small children that needs
to be stressed. Material precautions, by way of fireguards, etc., are designed to protect
children against sudden risks and for short periods when adult supervision may be
removed. Active toddlers if left for any considerable length of time completely without
supervision are likely to find ways and means of getting into danger even in circumstances
of reasonable security. A most serious example of this occurred in April 1956
when two children aged 3½ and 2 years were left for upwards of two hours and as a result
met their deaths from a fire which was discovered about 1½ hours after their parents
had left them. The older child, a boy, was found to be dead on admission to hospital
(asphyxia due to carbon monoxide poisoning), whilst the younger, a girl, died shortly
after admission (shock due to extensive burns).
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