Safety Practices and Policies

When children reach their preschool age, they encounter various safety threats and hazardous situations. Among these hazardous situations and safety threats include injuries caused by lack of supervision, chocking, firearms, drowning and hazardous chemicals poisoning.  Injuries caused by lack of supervision.

Injuries caused by lack of supervision

            Among these injuries include accidents caused by equipment that are malfunctioned. These are as a result of not checking equipment used by children to assess their condition. It is also contributed by not identifying an adult individual to supervise children when engaging in group activities (Turnell & Edwards, 1999). Examples of such injuries include children falling through a space that is missing a bar or falling from a height because of pushing each other on a playground. It is important that any institution that is responsible to care for these children to develop a policy that will require supervisors to report anything that is out of order, vandalized, damaged or broken before allowing children to use these facilities. Parents should educate their children to assess any equipment they want to use, and always follow the instructions of a supervisor (Mallon & Hess, 2005).

Chocking

            Many choking incidents have been found to be high during the preschool age. During this developmental stage, children are still curious about various things and at times place them in their mouth.  Common objects that cause chocking among preschoolers include toys and educational objects like erasers or caps (Dare & O'Donovan, 2000). As a safety measure, schools’ safety policies should ensure that any object that is believed to be hazardous and can lead to chocking should be kept in an area that children can not reach or in a lockable cabinet to prevent chances of chocking when not used by an instructor or as a result of negligence on the instructor’s part (Baginsky, 2008). Parents have a role to ensure safety of these children by buying for their children toys that are appropriate according to the indicated age on the toys, and placing any object they believe can cause chocking away from the reach of these children.

Firearms

            Research shows that over one-third of American children live in homes that have at least a single firearm. These firearms present safety threats to children at their preschool age who are not mature to understand their danger, but are fascinated after seeing guns in television programs, movies or neighborhood gang violence. The government should develop policies that will require individuals seeking a license to possess a firearm to be certified that they have provided the necessary safety measures such as possessing a safe cabinet, are mentally stable, and have no criminal record (Turnell & Edwards, 1999). It is important that policies should clearly define the minimum age that an individual is allowed to hold a firearm even when they qualify in all the requirements. Parents who are licensed to keep firearms should ensure that they store these firearms away from reach of these children in a secure place that is locked. They should ensure that they store firearms when they are not loaded to prevent any accidental shooting by the preschoolers in the house or neighborhood (Dare & O'Donovan, 2000).

Drowning

            Drowning among children in their preschool age occurs as a result of the absence of an adult to supervise or watch as these children swim in a pool. Other causes of drowning are as a result of not watching as they play near a swimming pool of bathing tub tap water. To ensure a safety environment for these children, places that proving swimming pools should develop policies that will ensure a lifesaver is present at all time at the pool even at times when nobody is swimming. This safety policy should ensure that the lifesaver is an individual that has been trained on first aid and can administer CPR in the event of a drowning incident (Baginsky, 2008). Parents can ensure the safety of children at home by ensuring that children are warned against playing with the bath tub’s tap. It is necessary that parents educate children on safety practices when swimming at the pool by following safety practices like using floaters or not entering the pool when there is not adult around to watch them (Mallon & Hess, 2005).

Hazardous chemicals’ poisoning

            Poisoning caused by hazardous household chemicals is another safety problems that faces preschoolers children. This problem is enhanced by children’s curiosity. According to children, a colored cleaning fluid may be perceived a sweet juice that is drank by people. This presents a health and safety problem because children at this age can not read and understand the description of a chemical to differentiate between unsafe and safe(Dare & O'Donovan, 2000) . Parents can make the home safe by storing hazardous chemicals far from the reach of children in a lockable cabinet. It is important that parents educate these children that locked cabinets should not be opened in instances where they are left open by mistake; the contents of the cabinet should not be touched (Mallon & Hess, 2005). Children need to be taught the importance of not eating or drinking anything in the house without the permission of the parent. Institutions such as schools or child daycare centers should develop policies that will require a chemical data sheet for any chemical used in the institution (Holtz, 208). This will ensure that the chemical composition is determined fast and assist in first aid in the event where a child has ingested the chemical (Baginsky, 2008). These institutions should make sure that hazardous chemicals are stored and kept far from the reach of these children (Turnell & Edwards, 1999).

            According to Turnell & Edwards (1999), these hazardous situations and safety threats are major problems facing children in their preschool age because they affect how they develop their growth domains, which makes it a high priority that the design and development of area these children spend their time in playing and socializing is assessed to ensure that it is suitable and safe for these children.

Reference

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Baginsky, M. (2008). Safeguarding children and schools. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 

Dare, A., & O'Donovan, M. (2000). Good practice in child safety. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.  Bottom of Form

Holtz, C. (2008). Global health care: Issues and policies. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett         Publishers.   

Mallon, G. P., & Hess, P. M. C. (2005). Child welfare for the twenty-first century: A handbook of practices, policies, and programs. New York: Columbia University Press.   

Turnell, A., & Edwards, S. (1999). Signs of safety: A solution and safety oriented approach to        child protection. New York: Norton.