Volume 26 Issue 49                                                                                   Winter 2022

Safety Source

                      Thank you for being part of the Safety Source family!

Holiday Safety Edition

 Our December monthly newsletter highlights toy safety, winter travel safety, dangers of lithium batteries, and more. There are interactive tools for your children to learn about home safety and a fun video that shows holiday safety tips.

 There is also a holiday safety checklist to review with your family! Let us know if we can be a resource to you in any way!

With Middle Tennessee temperatures starting to drop, it’s a good time to remember that children should not wear their coats while strapped into a car seat. (There’s a way to keep them warm, though — we’ll get to that in a moment.)

So what really happens in a crash? Winter coats give the false perception that the harness straps are tight against your child’s body when, in fact, they are several inches too loose. In a crash, the coat can compress and produce a loose harness, which can result in the child’s whole body coming out of the car seat, causing severe injuries or even death.

Don’t believe this is possible? Try this simple test to ease your mind.

• Place your child in the car seat with a winter coat on and tighten the harness straps as you normally would for travel.
• Next, undo the car seat buckle WITHOUT loosening the harness straps.
• Now take the coat off your child, put him or her back in the seat and buckle the harness.
• Use the pinch test to check the harness for tightness: Try pinching the harness fabric together near the child’s shoulders. When the harness is snug, your fingers should just slide off the harness as you try to pinch it together. If you can pinch a bit of harness between your fingers, the straps are too loose. Chances are you will need to tighten your harness to get it as snug as it needs to be to properly fit your child.

It is always important to make sure your child is snug in the car seat. When properly harnessed, the plastic retainer or chest clip should be across the child’s chest at armpit level. Use the pinch test to check for tightness.

So how do you keep your children warm? Take them to the car with a blanket or coat around them. Once you get to the car, take the blanket/coat off and secure the child in the car seat. Then place the blanket or coat over their body as long as it is not covering the face and obstructing breathing.

Other cold-weather safety notes: Remember never to leave your car running in the garage, never leave your car running with your child inside it, and never place anything underneath your child in a car seat or between your child and the harness. This includes winter coats!

It can be challenging to get everyone situated in the car, particularly when it is cold. It might take an extra minute or two to get your child strapped in and cozy, but that precious cargo is worth the effort.

Sources:

Healthychildren.org: Winter Coats and Car Seats

Consumer Reports: The Dangers of Winter Coats and Car Seats

Lithium button batteries are frequently found in watches, toys, games, greeting cards, and remote controls. They are typically about 20 millimeters in diameter, or the size of a nickel. These small, shiny batteries could be appealing to kids- and can be deadly.

If a button battery becomes stuck in the esophagus, the saliva can trigger an electric current, which in turn causes a chemical reaction that can severely burn the esophagus in just two hours. The corrosion can cause esophageal perforation, vocal cord paralysis, or airway/blood vessel erosion. 

So what do you do if you suspect your child has swallowed a battery? THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! Take your child to an Emergency Department immediately. Do not induce vomiting. If your child is over 12 months old, you can give them 2 teaspoons of honey, every 10 minutes while you are on your way to the Emergency Department. If the child is under 12 months old, do not give them anything to eat or drink. 

Poison Control is available to answer questions or provide directions by calling 1-800-222-1222.  

Source:

Poison Control

World Against Toys Causing Harm, or W.A.T.C.H., is a non-profit organization that has spent the last 50 years educating the public on potentially hazardous toys to avoid purchasing. Each holiday season, after careful research and analysis, they publish a list of “10 Worst Toys”. Here are the toys for 2022, grouped by injury categories.

Potential for battery ingestion injuries:

• Cocomelon Musical Learning Watch

Potential for blunt force and eye injuries:

• Disney Raya’s Action & Adventure Sword
• Nerf Pro Gelfire Mythic Blasters
• Black Panther Wakanda Battle Claws

Potential for choking injuries:

• Li’l Woodzeez Tickle-Your-Taste-Buds Bakery
• Zeus Lion
• Dingray Musical Bath Toy
• Pop’n Fidget Spinners

Potential for suffocation:

• Bunny Rabbit Cuddly Pillow

Potential for chemical-related injuries:

• Ooze Labs Chemistry Station

For further information, please visit the W.A.T.C.H. website at World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.) (toysafety.org)

Drunk driving is considered a problem on our nation’s roads every day, but this problem increases during the holidays. An average of 1 alcohol-impaired-driving fatality occurred every 50 minutes in 2018.¹ Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers. It is important to note, that all drunk driving deaths can be prevented. During the Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday periods in 2018 alone, there were more drunk-driving-related fatalities than during any other holiday period that year.¹

During the holiday season, be a responsible driver. Choose these responsible behaviors instead of drinking and driving:

• Planning is important. Before you leave out, plan your safe ride home. Consider choosing a friend as a designated driver.
• Accountability is key. If someone you know has been drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel. Take their keys and arrange a ride home.
• Utilize a ride sharing app, if you started drinking unexpectedly.
• Remember to always wear your seat belt.

Drunk driving is considered a serious offense. Charges range from misdemeanors to felony offenses, and penalties for impaired driving can include driver’s license revocation, fines, and jail time.²A DUI can cost you thousands of dollars in attorney fees and fines. Avoid these consequences by choosing the responsible behaviors listed above.

Remember if you feel different, you drive different. For more driving safety tips visit our page here.

Source:

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
2. NHTSA-Risky Driving

With the upcoming frosty season approaching quickly, it’s important to share a few safety tips for preventing accidental injury when using space heaters. While convenient and inexpensive, if not handled properly, they can start an electrical fire in your home. Follow these tips to prevent space heater fires in your home or workplace:

• Never plug a space heater into an extension cord or power strip
• Never leave a space heater running unattended
• Never place a space heater by a Christmas tree, bedding, drapers, or other flammable materials
• Keep the space heater on a solid, level, nonflammable surface
• Keep an eye on the condition of your heater; look for frayed wires, dirty surfaces, or broken parts.

Resource: Holiday Safety | CPSC.gov