All ECE program staff and volunteers are responsible for making sure no child is left unsupervised. Active supervision is a strategy that works in classrooms, family child care, playgrounds, and buses. Print and display this at-a-glance handout and poster throughout your program to remind everyone of active supervision strategies.

The American Burn Association (ABA) advocates spreading the word about the dangers and ways to prevent burn injury. View the ABA’s Children and Teens Safety and Burn First Aid for tipsheets, links, dos and don'ts.

The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) website has activity sheets, a video from Sparky the Fire Dog and more burn awareness and prevention resources. Also see Burn Prevention, First Aid and Calling 911 from the US Fire Administration for more.

The number of children experiencing serious medical damage or death from button batteries continues to rise. Button batteries can cause serious internal injuries in as little as two hours. View the Button Battery Toolkit from Prevent Child Injuries here.

HealthyChildren.org:

How Small Batteries Can Become Dangerous to Children

What Parents Need to Know about Button Batteries and Lithium Coin Batteries

The Health and Safety Checklist is a 112-item tool developed to assess key health and safety standards and identify ways to improve health and safety in early care and education (ECE) programs. The Checklist includes 72 out of the 138 key health and safety standards in Stepping Stones Third Edition. The Checklist was reviewed by an advisory committee of health and safety experts and pilot tested by child care health consultants. The Checklist is user-friendly, easy-to-understand and has links to the Caring for Our Children standards and other related resources. It can be used on a computer, electronic tablet or smart phone or printed on paper and filled out by hand. The User Manual provides background information and guidelines for rating each item.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Recalls & Product Safety Warnings page provides up-to-date information on product recalls to help keep families safe.

Would you like help learning how to use your car seat or getting your car seat checked to make sure it is installed correctly? There are Fitting Stations throughout Pennsylvania that provide this free service. Pennsylvania Fitting Stations have certified child passenger safety technicians available to assist with a car seat inspection and to teach you how to correctly use and install your car seat.

The link below from the Pennsylvania Traffic Injury Prevention Program (PA TIPP) will help you locate a fitting station. Contact the agency to schedule an appointment or determine when they are available to assist you. 

Car Seat Check / Fitting Station Locations

The PA Traffic Injury Prevention Project (PA TIPP) is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to assist in the development, training and promotion of loan programs throughout Pennsylvania. The car seats provided to loan programs are purchased through the Child Passenger Restraint Fund from the traffic citations issued for violations of the Pennsylvania Child Passenger Protection Law.

Use this search link to locate an agency where a car seat can be obtained through a loan agreement.

An alarm is the only way to know if there are dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. View the CO Safety Toolkit from Prevent Child Injuries here.

The CDC reports more children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than any other cause. Review drowning prevention from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics: Pool Dangers and Drowning Prevention―When It’s Not Swimming Time. 

Safe Kids Pennsylvania offers tips on swimming safety and water safety skills here.

Drowning can happen in an instant, take the Take the Pool Safety Pledge and get a free Pool Safely Toolkit.

Holidays like the Fourth of July and other celebrations can be fun times with great memories. But make sure everyone knows about fireworks safety. See Nemours Kids Health for Fireworks Safety. And Prevent Blindness' two-page PDF: Facts About Fireworks Injuries

More than half of choking incidents among children are caused by food. Learn how to keep your kids safer for meals, snacks, and every bite in between. View the Food-related Choking Toolkit from Prevent Child Injuries here.

Every year, thousands of children are hurt or killed because a driver moving forward very slowly didn’t see them. These incidents for the most part take place in driveways or parking lots and are referred to as ‘frontovers’ (the opposite of a backover). A backover incident typically takes place when a car is backing out of a driveway or parking space. In the U.S., 50 children are backed over EVERY WEEK because a driver could not see them. Rearview cameras can be installed on any vehicle to end these predictable tragedies.

From KidsandCars.org:

Frontover Facts in English, Spanish, or Chinese

Backover Facts in English, Spanish, or Chinese

"The majority of parents and caregivers are misinformed and would like to believe that a hot car tragedy will never happen to them. In over half of hot car deaths, the person responsible for the child unknowingly left them in the vehicle. In most situations, this happens to loving, caring, and protective parents. It has happened to a teacher, dentist, social worker, police officer, nurse, clergyman, soldier, and even a rocket scientist. It can happen to anyone…" See Kids and Car Safety for hot car prevention resources.

Hot Car Fact Sheets: Please share these important safety tips with your childcare providers, teachers, relatives, friends, family and neighbors…It could save a life! English / Spanish / Chinese / Arabic

Nine out of every 10 poisonings for children ages 12 and younger involve medication errors or unsupervised children taking medicine on their own. With nearly all of these incidents occurring in the home, storing, using, and disposing of over-the-counter and prescription medication is an essential safety check for every parent. View the Medication Safety Toolkit from Prevent Child Injuries here.

Does Your Playground Make the Grade? Questions for keeping children safe, protecting children from the sun, and preventing play area injuries for all seasons of play. See the Playground Report Card in English and Spanish from National Program for Play Area Safety (NPPAS).

More than 2 million poisonings are reported to poison control centers each year across the United States. One-and two-year-olds experience the most poisonings. In the event of a poison emergency, contact your local poison control center through the toll-free Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222. Centers are available 24 hours a day to assist in the management of poisoning emergencies.

To learn more about how to prevent a poisoning or respond should one occur, visit Poison Help, where you can find useful poisoning prevention tips and educational toolkits to share with staff and families.

Mr. Yuk® is a popular resource to educate about poisoning. Mr. Yuk® stickers and educational materials can be viewed at the UPMC’s Online Mr. Yuk Store.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia offers a list of Common Exposures children encounter, tips and what to expect from CHOP when Calling the Poison Control Center, and specific Poisonous Plants.

Keeping our children safe and healthy starts right at home. One hidden danger many families may not know about is lead—an invisible toxin found in old paint and even in drinking water. However, with a few simple steps, families can prevent childhood lead exposure and create a safe environment for kids to grow and thrive. Share with families how to protect children from lead.

Early Childcare Education programs can play a key role in preventing and identifying abusive head trauma. Read how to protect infants from abusive head trauma. Learn more from Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) Keeping Them Safe - Child Safety: Abusive Head Trauma video or the Keeping Them Safe - Child Safety: Abusive Head Trauma transcript.

Review key facts of Shaken Baby Syndrome from the Cleveland Clinic.

Magnets found in many toys are strong enough to attract one another or other metal objects through body parts creating unique dangers particularly if swallowed. If two or more ingested magnets, or one magnet and a magnetic piece such as a steel ball, attract in the intestines, they can pinch the intestinal walls cutting off the blood supply resulting in a perforation (hole). Twisting of the intestine and blockages can also result from swallowed magnets. 

Be extremely careful in purchasing toys containing magnets and vigilant in watching children while playing. Keep any small magnets away from children younger than 6 years old, particularly if the child has a tendency to put objects in his or her mouth. Children should never use magnets to emulate tongue, lip or nose piercings. Children have also been known to use their teeth to pry apart two magnets. Survey the child’s play area, and if a magnet has become dislodged or if there is a magnet missing, stop using the toy immediately. - CPSC.gov

More info:

How High-Powered Magnetic Toys Can Harm Children - HealthyChildren.org

What parents should know about high-powered magnets - AAP News

During the first five years, children constantly acquire new skills and knowledge. Caregivers who know what children can do and how they can get hurt can protect them from injury.

This tool provides safety tips for early childhood staff working with young children in classroom environments. Each section includes a description of development and safety tips organized by daily routines. Some tips apply to all children. Others address the developmental needs of children in a specific age group. If children in your classroom fit more than one developmental level, review the safety tips for each here.

CPSC has heard heartbreaking stories from parents whose children ingested water beads and suffered severe consequences, including grave internal injuries, lifelong health impacts and death. CPSC has also issued product safety warnings related to new evidence pointing to acrylamide toxicity in some water bead products.

The product warnings highlight that water bead hazards can go beyond ingestion, expansion and obstruction inside a child. Acrylamide is a known carcinogen. The large water beads in CPSC’s warnings contain levels of acrylamide in violation of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

CPSC data show that nearly 7,000 water bead-related ingestion injuries were treated in emergency departments in the U.S. from 2018 through 2022. CPSC is also aware of the death of a 10-month-old girl in 2023.

Water Beads: Harmful if Swallowed, Put in Ears (HealthyChildren.org)

Are Water Beads Dangerous? (Poison Control)

Open windows and children are a dangerous combination. By taking a few steps, you can help prevent window falls. View the Window Falls Toolkit from Prevent Child Injuries here.

About 37 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car. During the summer, that's about two children every week killed in a hot car. See hot car death prevention methods here from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).