While spring cleaning is an opportunity for parents to prepare their yard before their children go out to play in it, the Medical Officer of Health and CEO of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit says parents can sometimes be distracted away from potential hazards while undertaking the time-consuming process.
Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, A.K.A. Dr. Paul, joined CTV Your Morning Ottawa to speak about a few things parents should keep in mind as they prepare their yard for the warmer months.
Cleaning your shed
Sheds contain all sorts of potentially hazardous items, like scissors, rakes, and lawn mowers.
Typically, sheds are locked and children are unable to access the dangerous items they house. However, while parents first begin sorting through their shed, children have an easier time getting to those tools, leading to injury, Dr. Paul says.
“You never know,” Dr. Paul said. ”You’re taking it outside, and you’re busy raking, or doing other things, and the kids can get access to these things.”
Preparing your garden
Similar to the previous point, Dr. Paul says parents should be extra mindful of their children while gardening, as children may accidentally stumble upon dangerous tools.
Additionally, Dr. Paul says parents should keep an eye on things like fertilizer, seeds and plant bulbs while doing their work.
“Those types of things, children can chew on them, choke on them, accidentally swallow them, and those are toxic to children,” he said.
Inspecting the yard and play structures for damages
Once the snow melts and before their children get access to the yard, Dr. Paul says parents should inspect their property for sharp objects or hazards to ensure there are no dangers “leftover from the winter.”
Likewise, before their children use play structures, swing sets and slides, parents should ensure they did not decay over the winter.
“Some of them are iron, some of them are wooden, they may be rusty, they may be broken, there may be pieces, splinters coming out,” he said.
“If you look at where children land from the slide, that area there can have gravel, stone, all kinds of things that are left over from the winter that may be dangerous to children.”
Booting up the barbecue
Dr. Paul says parents should do a cursory inspection of their barbecue before using it to ensure it wasn’t damaged during the cold months.
While using the barbecue, parents should ensure their children stay away from it, so they don’t accidentally burn themselves, Dr. Paul said.
“Very often, we get kids who burned their hands because they touched the barbecue,” he said.
The barbecue should be properly cleaned before use and utensils and tools stored away afterwards.
Before and after opening the pool
While it may be some time before pools are opened, Dr. Paul says unopened pools can be a hazard and parents should monitor their children whenever they’re near them.
“We’ve seen children accidentally jump on these covers and drown or near drown,” he said.
When opening their pool, parents should ensure chemicals remain out of reach of their children, Dr. Paul said.
“Bottom line is that once the season kicks in, we’ve got a routine going, we’ve got things locked up, everything is fine, but once when we’re opening that backyard, particularly with a pool, sometimes we’re so distracted in doing other things that we want to do,” he said.
“We want to make sure either that you have somebody else watching the child, or perhaps have the child inside while you’re doing the backyard clean-up.”
