How Safe Is Safe?

Do you really need locks on your cabinets, covers on electrical outlets, or a gate around your pool?

Can your kids be too safe?

Personally I think that you can never be too safe. That doesn't mean that your children have to wear pads and a helmet at all times, but the more chances you take, the more likely your children will get hurt at some time.

It is important to remember that accidents (unintentional injuries) are the leading cause of death for children over age 1 years (and the 7th leading cause of death for children under a year old).

Even though unintentional injuries is a better term than accidents, it is even better to call these preventable injuries, since very often (but unfortunately not always) they can be prevented with the proper safety measures.

Here are the leading causes of death for children age 1 to 19 years in 1999:

1. Unintentional Injury (11,677 deaths)
2. Homicide (2,901 deaths)
3. Malignant Neoplasms (2,175 deaths)
4. Suicide (1,859 deaths)
5. Congenital Anomalies (1,199 deaths)
6. Heart Disease (923 deaths)
7. Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease (300 deaths)
8. Influenza & Pneumonia (296 deaths)
9. Benign Neoplasms (216 deaths)
10. Septicemia (196 deaths)

Which injuries cause the most deaths? Here is the 1999 data:

1. Unintentional MV Traffic (7,297 deaths)
2. Unintentional Drowning (1,218 deaths)
3. Unintentional Fire/burn (659 deaths)
4. Unintentional Suffocation (360 deaths)
5. Unintentional Other Land Transport (350 deaths)
6. Unintentional Poisoning (334 deaths)
7. Unintentional Pedestrian, Other (274 deaths)
8. Unintentional Fall (220 deaths)
9. Unintentional Firearm (214 deaths)
10. Unintentional Unspecified (145 deaths)

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