Volume 3   Issue  36                        November   2004

                 

Keeping Safe in Your Home is No Sure Thing
By Leslie Mann 
The Chicago Tribune November 6, 2004
 

Winter temps force Chicagoans inside, where we're warm and cozy inside our homes. But, warns the Home Safety Council, dangers lurk within.
Every year, 18,000 Americans die because of "unintentional home injuries," according to a new report from the group. Not a lot compared to some other causes of deaths, but far too many when you consider these are preventable.
Compared to other states, Illinois is not the safest place to hole up for the winter; it ranks No. 16 on the list of most dangerous states, in terms of unintentional home injury deaths.
Nationwide, the leading causes of unintentional home injury deaths are, in order, falls, poisonings, fire, choking/suffocation, drowning and firearms.
These are the most common causes in Illinois, too, except here poisoning deaths are more common than deaths caused by falls.
Folks fall down their stairs, up their stairs and over their rugs. Not surprisingly, people ages 80 and older fall the most. Only 3.2 percent of fatal falls are from ladders.
The elderly are much more likely to be victims of unintentional home injury deaths. Children ages one year and younger are the next most common group.
The group that most often stays out of harm's way is ages 10 to 14. In every age group, males are more likely to die from unintentional home injuries than are females.
The most dangerous state, at least in terms of unintentional home injury deaths, is New Mexico, where the rate is about 13 per 100,000 people annually.
At the other end of the safety spectrum, what's the safest state?
Answer: Massachusetts
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