Summer brings fun, and recommendations on steps to keep children safer
NORTHAMPTON – With summer officially here, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Child Fatality Review Team reminds everyone to keep children’s safety at the forefront when it comes to summer dangers involving swimming and water play, open windows and hot cars.
“We don’t want summertime to lead to tragedies that are preventable. We hope this campaign will remind people to take appropriate safety precautions,” said Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan. “Water and heat can lead to accidents and vigilance is key to child safety.
Child fatalities that occur within the jurisdiction of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office receive careful review by the fatality review team which assesses whether they could have been prevented. Last year, the team identified open windows, bodies of water and hot cars as particular dangers to children in the summer months, launching a public information campaign in an effort to prevent child deaths.
Child Fatality Review Teams, mandated by state law and falling to local District Attorney’s offices to assemble, are multidisciplinary groups who review infant and child deaths to determine if they were preventable and then to issue recommendations for change.
“Those teams are proactive, not punitive and part of our obligation to find ways to save young lives when deaths are preventable,” said DA Sullivan.
The full PSA campaign, “Keeping infants and children safe must be our top priority,” also targets infant sleeping safety. All four PSAs can also be viewed and printed out from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office website. The campaign offers tips for how to work towards safer practices, including:
- Sleep Safe: always place babies on their back to sleep and never co-sleep
- Window Safe: open windows from the top down and use stops to keep windows from opening more than four inches;
- Car Safe: Actively use prompts like placing a bag or lunch in the backseat where an infant is buckled in to prevent accidentally leaving an infant in a car;
- Water Safe: Test locks on pool fencing regularly, install pool drain covers and be wary of risks beneath the surface of natural bodies of water.
PSA posters on each of the themes are available for posting in public places by emailing at this link: https://www.northwesternda.org/contact-info/webforms/send-us-note