Evening star., 1946-02-03

animal bites, s insect bites, II contu-
sions from bumps and bangs of various
nature, 8 dislocations including 3 jaws
misplaced while yawning, and II fire.
arms mishapS.
Children Need Watching
The problem of home accidents is Of
particular importance to parents. OF
the 205 deaths, Sc were children and 26
of these were less than years of age.
BY comparison, traffic took the lives of
II under the age of Is Broken down
by age groups, the record continued:
from 20 to 40 years of age, 20 deaths;
from 30 to 40 years of age. 20 deaths;
from 40 to IS, 48 deaths, and above the
age of IS, 101 deaths.
The fatalities among the less -than-5-
year-olds included l fall, burns. l
poisoning and u asphyxiations. From
the ages OF 5 to 10, there were falls,
burns and l bleeding to death from
cut. Between the ages Of 20 and 40,
fell, were asphyxiated, 5 were burned
and was poisoned. From IL to SIS years
of age, % fell, IL were asphyxiated. II
were burned, were poisoned and was
drowned in bathtub. OF those over 65,
81 died from falls, IA asphyxiation, 3
from burns and from poison.
The nonfatal cases, by age groups,
follows a somewhat different pattern.
Among the smaller children there were
1872 falls, 204 wounds by sharp or pointed
objects, 126 burns, 81 foreign bodies, 118
polsonings and 154 from other causes.
From to 10 years of age there were
315 falls, 432 wounds, 159 burns, so for
eign bodies, II poisonings and 1913 from
other causes. From 20 to 64, 804 fell, 92s
were wounded, 382 were burned, 142 suf-
fered from foreign bodies, 81 were
poisoned and 403 met other mishaps.
Above IS there were 102 falls, % wounds,
burns. foreign bodies and IS other
causes.
Those Foolish Things
No unusual Imaginative faculty is
needed to read the Red Cross report
and realize the havoc wrought by foolish
little things people do. 1t may be in
furious to personal pride to admit it,
but the great majority of these accidents
are preventable, usually by a little care.
In industry and in public places. by
force OF law and of economic self-inter-
est, successful safety campaign has
been carried on. 1t has been based on
widespread educational efforts, making
changes in equipment and plants to
eliminate hazards and enforcement.
either by discharge of careless employees
or legal action against employers who
harbor remediable dangers in their
plants. Such efforts, naturally, cannot
be interposed into every mans castle.
Hence the continuance of Washington's
record of more than 200 home accident
deaths year and more than 10000 for
the United States as whole. This has
continued with only slight variation for
many years.
Bringing the Lesson Home
There is only one means of abating the
gloomy picture. That lies In bringing
home to the individual a recognition of
. hazards and a development of greater
care In the use of the harmless things
which may become dangerous through
thoughtlessness.
The Red Cross chapter in Washington
has, In the past three years, trained
number of instructors, particularly
among school teachers, to give free
courses in the causes of and means of
preventing accidents in the home The
course for adults covers IL hours, with o
shorter period for juniors, an innovation
this year. In order to provide instructors
for the junior courses special six-hour
training schedule now is offered to school
teachers. Any interested individual or
group may enroll for classes through the
frst-aid department Of the local chapter.