Summer is coming to an end, and it is time to purchase new school supplies, crack open text books and start learning. Along with new teachers, classrooms and daily routines come safety concerns. The personal injury attorneys at Glober Law Firm, a Jacksonville personal injury law firm, offer five tips for back to school safety:
1. Watch for cracks in pavement: With the excitement of seeing old school friends, kids may run to class too quickly, ignoring hazards in their paths. Remind children to walk slowly and watch for slick floors, cracks in the pavement, holes in the ground or gaps in the floor.
2. Check recalls: Monitor safety websites for foods and products that can cause a risk to your health. Many United States government agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the United States Coast Guard, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, list a variety of recalls on one website, recalls.gov. Check the site regularly for recalls of items you use so you don’t send kids to school with potentially dangerous foods or products. Click here to find some recalls on the Glober Law Firm website.
3. Pack safe lunches: Some foods can spoil quickly if not refrigerated properly. When packing a school lunch, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA) recommends avoiding bacteria, viruses, parasites and toxins by keeping foods and hands clean while packing lunches, avoiding cross contamination of foods, discarding leftover foods from a packed lunch, using two cold sources for foods that need to be refrigerated and covering food for safe reheating in a microwave. These are just a few of the tips offered by the USDA. Read more about food safety on the USDA Food Safety website or from the Glober Law Firm food safety blog post.
4. Monitor kids on playground equipment: According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 147 children ages 14 and younger died from playground-related injuries between 1990 and 2000. Make sure to teach your children how to use playground equipment safely and supervise them as they play, as kids can be injured or even killed on the equipment. Very sadly, there have been instances in which children have fallen to their deaths from playground equipment or been strangled by the equipment . Find out more about slip and fall injuries by clicking here.
5. Learn about bullying: Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children involving a real or perceived imbalance of power, according to Stopbullying.gov, a website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The organization goes on to explain that bullying is often repeated over time and can include threats, rumor spreading, physical or verbal attacks or exclusion from a group on purpose. Read more about bullying and how to prevent it by clicking here.
Back to school time is often stressful for parents and their children. While some safety risks accompany heading back to class, following a few simple steps can help stop accidents, ensuring back to school is a fun time for your family.
Glober Law Firm is a personal injury law firm based in Jacksonville, Florida. Glober Law Firm’s personal injury attorneys represent victims of auto accidents, bicycle accidents, dog bites and attacks, head and spinal cord injuries, motorcycle accidents, negligent hiring, negligent security, pedestrian accidents, physical assaults, premises liability, slip and fall accidents and wrongful death.
