Increase in Child Safety Accidents with Daily Life Recovery... Up 36.4% Compared to Previous Year

Increase in Safety Accidents Outside the Home

Last year, an increase in outdoor activities due to the recovery of daily life led to a rise in children's safety accidents.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced on the 30th that the number of children's safety accidents reported to the Consumer Injury Surveillance System (CISS) last year was 21,642, a 36.4% increase compared to the previous year. CISS is a system that collects and analyzes hazard information through 77 information submission institutions, including 58 hospitals and 18 fire stations nationwide, as well as 1,372 consumer counseling centers.

Among the hazard information collected last year, the proportion of children's safety accidents decreased during the COVID-19 period (2020?2021) but increased again last year. The increase in outdoor activities is analyzed as the cause of the rise in safety accidents at educational facilities and other places.

When analyzing the number of safety accidents by developmental stage, the walking stage accounted for the highest proportion at 38.1%. The school-age group (ages 7?14) followed with 28.6%, and the toddler stage (ages 4?6) and infant stage (age 0) accounted for 22.6% and 11%, respectively.

By location, homes accounted for the largest share at 65.7%. This includes cases such as falling from beds or tripping in the living room and hitting tables. However, in the case of last year, when the phased recovery of daily life began, the number of incidents at educational facilities (up 110.3%), sports and leisure facilities (up 138.3%), and lodging and restaurants (up 60.8%) increased significantly.

By type of accident, slipping, tripping, and bumping (8,017 cases, 37%) and falls (5,274 cases, 23.4%) accounted for 60% of the total. Both occurred most frequently during the walking and toddler stages. Foreign body ingestion and aspiration accidents and crushing and pinching accidents accounted for 2,091 cases (9.7%) and 1,168 cases (5.4%), respectively, and these also occurred most frequently during the walking and toddler stages.

So Ji-ba-won stated, "The infant and walking stages are influenced by the surrounding environment, while the toddler and school-age stages are affected by both the environment and children's behavioral characteristics in causing safety accidents," and added, "Continuous safety accident prevention education tailored to children's growth stages by age is necessary."

The Consumer Agency provides information on children's safety accidents, hazard types, and prevention through the Children's Safety Net.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.