Victorians, like all Canadians, love the summer, its gardening, barbecues and bike rides. But the public health department warns warm weather and sun are better enjoyed outside than in a hospital emergency room.
“Summer is a time for a bit of a battery re-charge,” said Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health chief medical health officer.
“But it’s also a time for a few precautions so you can have some great stories to tell,” Stanwick said. “You don’t want to be talking about how crowded the emergency department was.”
He said every summer people have accidents, especially kids. They are burned, bitten and have unpleasant falls. Some of the most prominent sources of injuries in summer are:
Bicycles
The importance of helmets is underlined by the Canadian Hospitals and Injury Reporting Program in its 2006 brief (the most recent available).
In the cases where helmet use was recorded, those wearing a helmet were admitted to hospital seven per cent of the time. Meanwhile, those who were not wearing helmets had a hospitalization rate of 12 per cent, almost double.
Stanwick also said it’s important for parents to check the age and fit of a child’s helmet.
Plastic foam used in bicycle helmets has an expiration date. Eventually, the material hardens or grows brittle and no longer supplies adequate protection.
So don’t pass them down from older to younger children or buy them from a garage sale.
“You don’t want to wait for the expiration date to replace it,” Stanwick said. “Any sort of children’s protective equipment, you have to be extremely cautious.”
Lawn Mowers
The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies the lawn mower as one of the most dangerous tools in a household and offers some safety tips to protect kids and young people.
• Children younger than 15 should not be in a yard when someone is mowing the lawn.
• Children younger than 12 should not use walk-behind mowers.
• Children younger than 16 should not use ride-on mowers.
• Neither children nor adults should ride as passengers on ride-on mowers.
Dangers from a lawn mower include not only cuts, but burns from touching the hot engine or muffler. Fire during refuelling with gasoline is anther hazard.
And rocks, sticks or toys can be flung at high speeds and cause injury. So clear the lawn before mowing.
Stanwick warns a lawn mower basically turns a yard into a work site. So work-site safety standards apply.
“Cutting the grass is something we do in terms of upkeep for a property, but it’s not something for which you should bring along a two- or three-year-old,” he said.
“Would you bring your child to an arc-welding or a body shop or to Pacific Steel and Recycling? The answer is no,” Stanwick said.
Barbecues
The Canada Safety Council warns children should be kept a safe distance form barbecues. Also, barbecues should be properly maintained according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Stanwick warns Victorians should take a little extra care during inspection of jets in a propane barbecue.
“We live in a climate where we tend to have a lot of spiders and these spiders can get into the jets and clog them,” he said. “And if people aren’t careful, they can have some real issues with propane.”
“Also, raise the cover when you light a barbecue,” said Stanwick. “The number of people who try to send a barbecue lid into orbit is not a good thing.”
He also recommends having a fire extinguisher within easy reach and knowing its location.
And after the cooking is over, double-check to make sure the barbecue and gas are properly turned off.
“These things are dangerous,” Stanwick said. “Propane tanks are things not to be toyed with.”
Bonfires
The Canada Safety Council warns bonfires should have clear and safe boundary lines because it’s too easy for children to trip and suffer serious burns.
A good tip is to involve children in arranging a ring of stones around the fire to mark out the boundary, identifying the “hot zone” to keep it off-limits.
Also, toasted marshmallows are very hot, especially if they catch on fire. Allow them to cool before eating. Don’t wave the roasting stick through the air because a hot, sticky marshmallow can cause a nasty burn.
After the fun is over, properly extinguish the fire. Also, always keep matches, lighters and lighter fluid locked up and away from children.
Spring cleaning
“We have a mild climate here in Victoria, so not everything gets killed off in the winter,” Stanwick said.
He said when it’s time to clean out things suchas the garden shed or tight crawl spaces, take care at the sight of rodent droppings. Vancouver Island has deer mice, which can carry the potentially dangerous hantavirus.
So wear gloves and a dust mask and coveralls, to be washed afterward.
“If you find you’ve got rodent droppings or bad mould, don’t send your kid in to clean it up,” Stanwick said.
Vancouver Island is also home to the brown recluse spider and the black widow, both of which have nasty, painful bites. So wear work gloves when cleaning out things such as old wood piles.
And Victoria and Vancouver Island are home to biting insects, such as mosquitoes, although not in numbers like those on the Prairies. Insect repellents are a good measure. Most adults will get away with a mild irritation. But if children scratch too much, the result can be infections.
Skateboards, BMX and other games.
“If a kid is into sports but hasn’t been doing it over the winter, they should take it up again gradually,” Stanwick said.
“They will have at least forgotten some of the skill set, so it’s a matter of gradually getting back into it,” he said. “They shouldn’t start right away to try the same tricks and stunts they did last summer.”
Stanwick also recommends kids identify some books they want to finish over the summer. Make sure it’s reading material just for them and their own interests.
Finally, no more than two hours per day of screen time, TV, computers or game sets.
“This is a time they need to be out and active and improving their fitness levels and experience this wonderful climate and environment we have,” said Stanwick.
For more information on safety of all kinds, check out the Canada Safety Council online at canadasafetycouncil.org.