Posted by Charlotte Salter, on January 2, 2019.
Families in Warwickshire are being urged by the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association (UKCPI) and the Royal Society for the Prevention Accidents (RoSPA) to take action to avoid accidents with household cleaning products.
The latest phase of the Take Action Today, Put Them Away campaign, funded by the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association (UKCPI), was launched in the week beginning 10th December at various sites across the county.
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.
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.
Across Warwickshire, 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 was 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.”
Carina Haley-Doyle, Clinical Lead for Health Visiting said: “Accident prevention has always been high on our agenda as we provide a universal service to all local families with children under five years old.”
“Accident prevention and reducing A&E attendance are part of the High Impact Areas that we work closely on with our colleagues in Public Health, children’s centres, charities and voluntary agencies, and the local fire service.”
“We are really pleased to have the opportunity to be taking part in this county-wide event with RoSPA. It will add value to the work we already do and give us the opportunity to collectively reinforce the message around supervision and safe storage of household products to protect children and reduce the number of children admitted to our local hospitals.”
The latest launches took place at Lillington Children and Family Centre, Camp Hill Early Years and Claremont Childrens Centre on 10th and 13th December.
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.
Further information on the Take Action Today campaign can be found here.
For more details about UKCPI, visit www.ukcpi.org
