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Summer Outdoor Safety

Tips to safely swing, swim, and enjoy your s’mores

madison_taylor_playgroundParents, when you tell your children to go out and play this summer, you may know that your yard is fenced with a child-proof lock to keep them close to home, but do you know if your own backyard is safe for them to play without injury? June is Home Safety Month and it’s the perfect time to take a careful look around your yard to be sure it’s summer safe. Here are three common summertime backyard activities that can be dangerous for kids if certain safety precautions aren’t observed. Read these tips and make sure your backyard is safe for summer fun.

Soft Landings
There’s nothing like pumping as hard as you can, swinging up to the sky, and feeling as if you are flying. Kids and swings go together like ducks and water. However, falls account for approximately 1.3 million injuries each year and are the leading cause of nonfatal home injuries for children. Many of these falls happen on the family’s backyard playground.

“I have yet to see a safe play area in a backyard,” says Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council (HSC). “Every swing set needs to provide a safe landing with padding in the fall zone. Bones can still break, but it’s the head trauma that’s not so easily fixed.”

The HSC recommends that areas under and around play equipment be covered with hardwood chips, mulch, pea gravel, or sand. The safety material should be nine to 12 inches deep, and should extend six feet from the edges of the equipment.

Hot Zone
Roasting marshmallows around a backyard fire pit may seem like a great way to close a day of summer fun, but it’s critical to be aware of safety for this summer activity. Fire pits and grills are dangerous hot zones. Children should not be allowed to play anywhere near a fire pit.

Make sure to supervise children when grills are in use, and do so until all of the equipment has cooled down and sharp utensils have been put away. An adult should always remain by the grill or fire pit while cooking.

Only an Inch
A small amount of water seems so innocent, doesn’t it? Each year, an estimated thirty children die by drowning in buckets. And approximately 300 children, 4-years-old and younger, die by drowning in residential swimming pools. As summer approaches, parents should understand that even a wading pool, or bucket of water to wash the car, poses a potential drowning hazard for a toddler.

“Young children can drown in as little as one inch of water. Toddlers are top heavy and can easily fall over. Any amount of water is a real hazard,” says Appy. “You must be within touch distance to your child when they are around water.”

When children are in, or near, the water, make sure a grownup is watching. Do not get distracted by cell phones or conversations, and do not put older children in charge of watching younger ones in the pool area. If a child is missing, check the pool area first. One of the best investments you can make when it comes to water safety is to install a fence that goes around the periphery of the pool, blocking access from the house. The fence should be at least five feet high and have a self-latching, self-locking gate.

Take a few minutes, walk around your backyard, and check for hazards. Your kids will be singing, “No more pencils, no more books…” before you know it, so make your yard safe for summer fun.

For more information on how to improve the safety around your home, visit the Home Safety Council at www.homesafetycouncil.org.