Posted by Charlotte Salter, on January 24, 2019.
Families in Solihull are being urged by UKCPI and the Royal Society for the Prevention Accidents (RoSPA) to take action to store their household cleaning products safely.
The latest phase of the Take Action Today, Put Them Away campaign, funded by the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association (UKCPI), was launched on Tuesday, January 22 at Chelmsley Wood Library in Solihull.
This follows the scheme’s success in twelve areas of the UK including Birmingham, Liverpool, King’s Lynn, Nottingham, Newcastle, Bradford, Lincolnshire and Northern Ireland where 300,000 families have been helped to prevent poisoning and eye injuries.
Across Solihull, hospital admissions for under-fives as a result of accidental poisoning are significantly higher than the England average.
As part of the campaign, a handy magnetic notepad featuring key safety advice will be handed out to thousands of families by health visitors and children’s centre staff.
Ashley Martin, RoSPA’s acting public health adviser, said: “The notepad acts as a constant reminder in family kitchens to store cleaning products out of reach, out of sight and in a locked cupboard.
“Due to their inquisitive nature, children under the age of five are most at risk of accidentally swallowing or getting household cleaning products, like liquid laundry capsules, into their eyes. Even products with a child-resistant closure cannot guarantee safety – they only reduce the risk by delaying access to the product.”
Philip Malpass, from the industry’s trade body, the UKCPI, said: “Cleaning products are designed to be safe to use and to provide the clean and hygienic home we often take for granted today. The accidents we see involving young children and cleaning products are avoidable, and whilst the severity of the injuries are generally low, we hope that this campaign will remind parents to follow the usage instructions on the packaging, and in so doing, avoid unnecessary accidents.”
Karen Mathers, implementation manager for the Health Visiting Service said: “It is great to have the opportunity to support this country wide campaign with RoSPA. Accident prevention is one of the key underpinning messages in our Universal Health Visiting programme that is delivered to all families with a pre-school child in Solihull.
“This campaign will enable us to reinforce the message about safe storage of household products and supervision of young children and share a few simple steps to reduce the number of accidental poisonings and the subsequent hospital admissions. The use of a simple magnet will be a useful tool for the health visiting teams to use to support this valuable message.”
Take action today, put them away advice to parents includes:
• Store household cleaning products out of reach of children, preferably in a locked cupboard
• Always store chemicals in their original containers
• Never pierce or break laundry capsules or tablets
• Always close the lid of any product
• In the event of an incident, follow advice on the product pack and seek medical attention.
UKCPI is the leading trade association representing UK producers of cleaning and hygiene products from household soaps, washing powders, liquids, disinfectants, air care and polishes to the professional cleaning and hygiene products used in industrial and institutional applications.
It provides advice and guidance to manufacturers, distributors and users of cleaning and hygiene products. UKCPI also works in partnership with policymakers, the public and the media, to inform public discussions about cleanliness, hygiene and sustainable cleaning.
For more details about the UKCPI, visit www.ukcpi.org
