Garden Safety for Kids

Summertime means barbeques, paddling pools, lots of flowers and plenty of insects and if we're lucky, not much rain. It also brings out the gardener in us - that typically English pastime to which so much TV programming is devoted.

And like the programmes, we all like to buy every available piece of kit and equipment going. Which is fine, as long as you know how to use it and keep everyone else safe at the same time.

Gardens are great to have and great to be in but they do have their hazards. Not for nothing do in the films which have people treading on rakes, swinging round with planks of wood and running into ponds after a kite. In 1996 there were nearly 465,000 accidents specified as being in or around the garden, 1 in 5 of all accidents. There were also 46 deaths (1995 data), 1 in 75 of all domestic fatalities.

Almost half of accidents involve adults but almost a quarter involve children and 14% infants and toddlers. A relatively small proportion involve older people.

How to Make Sure Your Garden Stays Safe:

Firstly, make sure that what is in your garden stays in your garden. The last thing you want to hear is the squeal of tyres interrupting your weeding or reading. If your garden is hedged, check it regularly for gaps and for complete safety try to run chicken wire down the base of a hedge if it isn't bush all the way to the floor, to keep pets and children in.

Also check fences and gates to ensure they are secure. Walls can present a hazard in their own right as older walls can crumble away in time and have been known to collapse on people so make sure you have them checked for stability.

Make sure you keep borders trimmed back from paths so that sharp leaves or thorns don't become entangled in smaller children's clothes, hair or possibly faces and eyes as they walk, run or ride past. Try to avoid prickly or thorny shrubs at all as they tend to be head height for children.

Equally, make children aware of dangerous plants and the hazards of eating them (see: 'Which Garden Plants are Safe for Children?' for more info). Some plants can also cut quite badly such as pampas grass whose long stems are extremely sharp and can easily slice your hand. Also point out things like holly or roses, which have pointy leaves and thorns.

Toys, Equipment and Surfaces

When using toys or climbing equipment in the garden, always follow the manufacturer's installation instructions and never substitute parts. Don't put climbing equipment or playhouses near concreted areas or too near walls, fences, large bushes etc as these may be fallen against or into. You can buy play surface to lay in your garden as well which reduce the risks of muddy, slippy ground (see: 'Play equipment: Safety, Standards and Supervision')

Other surfaces in and around the garden that are hazardous are driveways and steps. If possible, replace gravel with a solid surface as gravel can be a choke and cut hazard for children of all ages (older children may throw it too).

Check paving is fitted properly, especially on steps and that they are replaced as soon as cracks appear or they work loose. They can be a major trip hazard, which could prove very nasty if they result in a head injury.

When children are riding bicycles at home on the drive or in the garden, they should still wear a safety helmet. There is absolutely no difference between a driveway or path and a road. The same goes for skate boarding, roller blading and roller skating - they can still fall off them or over so it is best to take precautions.

Also make sure that your children know where their toys go at the end of the day and that they dry them off before and after use to ensure they don't rust if they are metal or go green if they are plastic.

DIY and Power Tools

If you do a lot of garden DIY, don't leave tools lying around. This may sound obvious, but it is very easy to have a break that turns into a quick sandwich, which is all the time it needs for a tool to be found and 'played' with, or at the least the cable tripped over.

Ensure that power tools have a cut off switch in them (an RCD - residual current device) and that you unplug them as soon as you are finished with them. Store them in a locked garage on a high shelf and make it clear that they are out of bounds for safety reasons. Make sure that children know that when you are using them they are not to play near you, especially if you are using a step ladder or ladder as these are easily knocked.

Never use power tools in the wet and discourage children from playing with hoses when there are tools around. Likewise, with non-power tools such as secateurs, trowels and hammers, don't leave them lying on the ground when gardening as this is an open invitation to small children. At least keep things in a portable box with a handle that you can carry around the garden with you or in the pocket of an apron if you have one.

Older Children

If you want to introduce your older children to gardening, buy them their own mini set of gardening tools and give them their own patch of land to cultivate with sunflowers, for instance. This should keep them occupied in a safe and interesting way while you do more demanding work elsewhere. Soil often contains animal faeces and can get trapped in little finger nails, so scrub with soap and a nailbrush, or better still invest in a pair of little gardening gloves, many stores stock smaller sizes, specially designed for children.

Chemicals

Make sure that chemicals such as weed or insect killer are also locked away and that children are not in the vicinity when they are used. Ensure that children do not play near sprayed plants either as they may well touch them and transfer some of the chemicals into their mouths or eyes. Likewise with paints and wood preservers such as cuprinol.

Ponds and Water

Water play should be cleared away at the end of the day with paddling pools especially needing to be emptied and stored away; they can fill up enough with rain overnight to present a drowning hazard to small children by morning.

Ponds can be dangerous for obvious reasons so fence them off, make sure they are out of bounds or better still, fill them in. You could cover them with netting or chicken wire if it is a small pond, to prevent children falling in, but that's not so great aesthetically and there is still a risk. You can always have a bird bath or smaller water feature that doesn't pose a threat of drowning until your children are much older.

And Finally...

In hotter weather, barbeques are the perfect way to relax but make sure you never leave children alone while it is lit as the excitement can lead to curiosity. Make sure it is thoroughly out at the end of the day and left to cool down. Equally, ensure plates and cutlery, if used, are cleared straight away to avoid accidents and try to use paper plates and plastic cups instead of glasses and china plates where children are concerned - it saves on the washing up too!