Self-reported safety practices in child care facilities.
To determine the prevalence of safety hazards and current injury prevention practices in child care settings, we administered a structured telephone interview to a geographically stratified, randomly selected sample of licensed child care facilities. Representatives of 130 child care facilities responded to questions about current injury prevention practices. Specific hazards assessed were related to burns, falls, poisoning, playgrounds, and emergency telephone numbers. Results indicated that 26.8% of providers who knew the temperature of their tap water stated that it was over 130 degrees F.; 14.1% had space heaters accessible to children; 30.3% of those with stairs accessible to children lacked safety gates; 61.4% of those with playgrounds did not have an impact-absorbing surface under playground equipment; 16.9% of respondents had an unexpired bottle of syrup of ipecac; 55.8% demonstrated that a poison control center telephone number was available to them; and 80% of providers could demonstrate the availability of the telephone number of the local ambulance. We conclude that potential and remedial injury hazards exist in some licensed child care centers and that providers of child care within licensed facilities are a promising target for childhood injury prevention interventions.
O'Connor
M A
MA
Department of Maternal and Child Health, Injury Prevention Resource and Research Center, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03756.
Boyle
W E
WE
O' Connor
G T
GT
Letellier
R
R
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000592:standards*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008004:Licensure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009513:New Hampshire; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012449:Safety; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*