It is a parent’s worst nightmare. Your child runs outside to play and ends up injured, bruised at best, suffering from debilitating injuries at worst. The question for many is how to prevent these injuries from occurring in the first place. The question for a tragic few is what to do if your child is a victim. Surprisingly, the two answers overlap, so let’s address both here.

How to Prevent Playground Injuries

Slips and falls are the number one cause of playground injuries for young children. The first thing you should do is check the surface of the playground before you let your child play on it. Try to have children play on safe surfaces rather than dirt or grass. Avoid playing on equipment on asphalt or cement unless there is a softer “safety surface” on top of it.

The next step is ensuring that the equipment itself is properly maintained. Make certain that railings are properly attached and there aren’t openings large enough to trap a limb or head.

Check for open areas at the top of slides that could catch strings and strangle a child, or equally bad, allow them to fall from a great height. Loose and exposed bolts are a major warning sign. Also, check out the cargo nets since openings that are too large could let a child fall through.

In the summer, check the temperature of the playground equipment. Metal surfaces can become dangerously hot if they aren’t in the shade. This could burn the skin if they’ve been exposed to the sun for a long time, even when the air is just 74°F. Water can make playgrounds more pleasant, but you should try to make the surface as slip-free as possible.

On top of everything, parents need to supervise their children. This is especially true for young children. They don’t appreciate the risks that come with climbing too high or pushing their limits. Parents who don’t take reasonable steps to protect a child or fail to supervise a child will be held responsible if the child is injured.

What to Do If Your Child Is a Victim

First and foremost, render first aid where you can. Seek medical attention as soon as possible, especially for severe injuries or matters not resolved by first aid. Seek legal advice if you’re dealing with a severe injury or major medical bills. A lawyer can help you determine who is liable for the dangerous conditions and get compensation for your child’s injuries.

Who Is Liable?

Liability is a complicated matter. The daycare or school that owns the playground probably didn’t design it or construct it. The company that installed it may not have designed it, and a third-party may have supplied materials like the shock absorbent foam under the jungle gym. Maintaining the equipment is another issue altogether. Depending on the cause of a child’s injury, the actions of any one of these parties or several of them may be liable. If you aren’t sure who is responsible, we suggest you consult a personal injury law firm like David R. Heil Law to find out how and who should be prosecuted in that case. This firm works on a no win no fee basis, so no payment is required until it’s won in your favor.

Conclusion

Around half of all playground-related injuries include severe injuries like fractures and concussions, so do everything you can to prevent injuries. However, accidents do happen, and it helps to know what to do next.

Every year there many seniors suffer from trips and falls. What’s even worse is that, of those who fall, less than 50% of them will talk about it. This is very sad as falls and resulting hip fractures cause different injuries in seniors and many of those injuries can prove fatal.

It’s not just hip injuries, but there are cuts, fractures and traumatic brain injuries that may cause permanently damaging mental conditions like dementia. Some seniors get so afraid of certain activities because they may develop a fear of falling.

Trip Hazards in the House for the Elderly

There are many trip hazards in the house. They could be anything from a slippery floor, a shaky flight of stairs, naked or protected electrical wires, cords and cables. It’s no surprise that many of these hazards can be found in the home where you think you are safe.

This is why you have to be very careful of falls and start creating a home you can call safe. It all starts with the small things. You don’t have to aim for a complete tear down and then remodel. There are some small things that you can do to make your home safer for seniors living there.

Removing Any Trip Hazards

There are some household fixtures, commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms that can be the reason for a fall. One can suffer from back pain and injuries that lead to back pain if they fall. It can be even worse if that someone is a senior.

Carry out a brief examination of the bathrooms, hallways, kitchen and other areas of the house. Keep an eye out for slippery rugs, floorboards and loose carpets. Repair these things and tape them up. TripSafe.com.au can help you out with that, too. Prevent your beloved seniors from falling by doing your part.

Be Clutter-Free

Speaking of doing your part, you can start with spring cleaning and some tidying up, as well. It requires relatively little effort and makes your house free of any potential trip hazards. The stacks of old newspapers, antiques, out of place rugs, books, broken furniture and wood blocks lying around can become a serious hazard if you don’t clean it up.

So, do your part in cleaning up the house to make it safer for seniors as well as yourself.

Handrails and Grab Bars

If you know that your spirited seniors are free spirited, but don’t have the energy for it, it may prove to be a problem. If they can’t walk without support, then that’s what you need. Luckily, grab bars and hand rails, that are sturdily built, will solve this problem. Whether it’s a flight of stairs, a slippery bathroom or kitchen or even a hallway, installing this type of safety equipment can allow seniors the safety they need.

They can come down the stairs slowly and with support, get in and out of the bathtub, or even catch themselves if no one’s around when they’re about to fall. This is something really positive.

Very few women leave the house without a handbag. Being natural planners, we tend to have a running checklist of things we might need during the course of the day. The staples, purse, phone, keys and so on. And then the other essentials: medicine, buy good beauty products on GoodBeautyProducts.com, notebook, diary, bottle of water, children’s snacks.

Quite frankly how men cope with just a pocket in their jeans is quite a mystery. A handbag is such an important part of the everyday, choosing a new one can be quite a challenge, especially finding one that suits all your criteria. But here are some general rules that should ease the process.

Choose a neutral colour

This might seem simple, but it comes from experience. Yes that turquoise/yellow/pink bag is beautiful and you are in love with it – but will it go with everything you own? Or will it be destined to live most of its life in a cupboard because it only goes with one outfit you wear once every 18 months.

Stick to muted or plain tones, black, grey, brown and so on. Paler colours are not really recommended unless you want it to look old and dirty pretty quickly.

You don’t have to curb your sense of style, just because you have a plain bag. There are plenty of clip on accessories available these days for handbags to give it a bit of live and creativity. But the important part of this is that they are removable if needed – in Buyviu.com UK you can find all you need to suit your very own style.

It doesn’t all have to be plain. A really vibrant and decorative inside looks great, especially when you get that fabulous flash of colour every time you open it.

Leather really is the best material out there

This is a tough one. Leather is fantastic for bags. It is durable, ages well, is flexible, smells lovely and can cope with the elements. It really is the best option.

However, with sustainable and responsible fashion being top of the list this year for fashion must haves, leather material bags don’t always sit well with this. You have a couple of choices. Look for companies that pride themselves on animal welfare and ethical production.

Or you look to companies who specialise in leather replacement products, for example vegan friendly producers. These specialists work extra hard to make their products have all the benefits of leather, without a single animal harmed along the way, so you can be sure of decent quality.

Opt for something with a little structure

While big squishy tote bags are great, you can almost guarantee you will never find anything in the bag again. Who wants to be stood emptying out their handbag in the rain while desperately trying to locate the car keys? Not many people I know.

Something with structure, and ideally a few specialised compartments, will make all the difference. They also just look smarter and more sophisticated, which makes them a little more versatile because they go equally well with jeans and flats as they do with smart office wear.

Remember what you are using it for

Falling in love with a completely impractical handbag is perfectly normal. But save yourself some aggravation and try to remember that the bag also has a purpose.

If you need to use the bag for work, and need to shove A4 folders in there, along with a laptop, charger, squished banana and a reusable bamboo coffee cup, then a pretty clutch just isn’t going to cut it.

So try and apply a little common sense in that regard. Or just buy two bags, one with your heart, and one with your head.