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General conclusions
Home accidents may be regarded from the point of view of their susceptibility to
prevention. Those which happen to children under five years of age could be averted in
a large number of cases when the responsibility for their occurrence is due to a failure in
parental vigilance. Habit training begins to be of, and increases in, importance as the
child develops and approaches the age when he or she (and this applies more to boys)
gets into his own scrapes.
Above the age of five years education against accidents should be directed increasingly
to the child and it would appear that the parent and the teacher are in the best position
to do this. From this age onwards it is probably true to say that a higher proportion of
accidents occur which could not so readily be prevented, because they are due to growing
adventurousness coupled with incompletely developed faculties and, an important factor,
lack of experience. At this age children are instructed in road safety and this should
reinforce, and be reinforced by, the lessons of home safety ; the two together should
inculcate and encourage care and foresight which will be applicable in the industrial and
commercial field later in life. It is probably more difficult, however, to make a child see
danger in the familiar everyday objects of home and garden to which he has become
thoroughly accustomed than to make him aware of the dangers arising from large
and rapidly moving objects which make up road traffic.
The accidents which occur in adolescence, early and middle adult life are somewhat
of the same kind, and although forethought and care would undoubtedly reduce their
incidence, they are due in many cases to the nature of the activities undertaken.
It is only when the increasing weight of years has had its effect in reducing alertness,
whilst increasing the stubborness, opposition to change and senility which unfortunately
are often associated with advancing years, that accidents which could be prevented are
again met in any large proportion. Here again the keyword is watchfulness and it is the
relatives, friends and neighbours of the elderly person who can do most to spare them
the unhappy consequences of accidents. It must, however, be accepted that a proportion
of accidents and probably a fairly high one, to the aged is inevitable and is attributable
directly to physiological disabilities.
Certain forms of accident would appear to be more capable of prevention than
others. Burns and scalds could by taking precautions and the exercise of care be considerably
reduced. Poisoning whether by coal-gas or other toxic substances could be
reduced by maintaining appliances in good condition and ensuring proper ventilation
in the first instance, and by locking away medicines or other toxic substances when not in
use and making sure that such things are kept in properly marked containers.
Health education against accidents should be addressed to the parents of infants and
young children, particularly as the parents of first children are likely to be inexperienced
in the ways of young children. It should also be increasingly directed towards the
developing child both from the point of view of immediate effect, and also because if
it is well received and the lesson is learnt it will bear fruit at all later stages in life.
Although children are much less accident prone than the aged, from this point of view
and from the point of view of the community inasmuch as they have the whole of their
productive life to live, their safety is very important. Health education towards accident
prevention can therefore be directed at young and middle-aged adults in their capacity
as guardians of children and because of their responsibility for the welfare of older
people. It is generally they who are mainly responsible for such activities in the home as
building, decorating, gardening, repairs and handyman's work and propaganda in this
connection can be addressed to them on their own account.
The problem of the aged is very difficult. Undoubtedly their care when they meet
with accidents imposes a very considerable burden on the community whilst it may mean
that the victim's last years instead of being healthy and happy are made wretched by
ill-health and an unwelcome dependence upon others. So many accidents occur to the
aged that the reduction in their incidence is most important from the point of view of
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