Safety and injury prevention

Safety and injury prevention

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Young skin burns more quickly and deeply than adult skin, and at lower temperatures. See some practical tips for preventing burns.
School-aged children are not travelling as safely as they could. To be safe children need to be in booster seats until they are 148cm tall. For the majority of children this is somewhere between nine and 12 years of age.
To be safe when travelling in vehicles, all children need to use an approved child restraint (this includes a booster seat) until they are 148cm tall (between nine and 12 years of age). For advice on the type of child restraint you may need and for help with correctly fitting it into your vehicle, find your nearest child restraint technician.
Children injured in driveway accidents often suffer severe and sometimes fatal injuries. Check for children before driving off; supervise children around vehicles - always; separate play areas from driveways.
If you think your child may have been poisoned call the New Zealand National Poisons Centre immediately on 0800 POISON (0800 764 766). This is a 24-hour 7-day toll free emergency telephone service. Phone 111 for an ambulance if you are worried that your child looks very ill.
It is important for you to know about any medicines your child is taking. It’s also important that your child knows about them too. Knowing about your medicines means that you and your child can help to prevent errors occurring with medicines.
On a scooter, if your child crashes, they will fall hard. Make sure they wear a helmet, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads.
Drowning is one of the major causes of injury-related death to New Zealand children. Never leave children, especially those under five years of age, unsupervised near water, including baths, buckets and water troughs. All children under the age of three years should be constantly supervised in the bath by an adult - if you leave the room, take the child with you.