Please take care in the Spring - avoid DIY & other accidents

[lhpc7web]

We all know that DIY is dangerous - it's just that accidents only happen to someone else!

The first lawn mowing of the year and you forget to plug the cable into a safety trip device, then cut the cable in the longer than usual grass. Electrocution causes cardiac arrest, stops breathing and leads to death.

You only wanted to trim a few small branches off the apple tree, so made do with a pair of steps instead of a proper ladder. Over reaching, the steps sink into the soft soil and you fall....

Scenario 1: As you land your head strikes the stone edging on the flower bed, knocking you out. In seconds, because you are unconscious, the epiglotis (the flap at the back of the throat that stops food going down the wrong way) flops forwards and blocks your airway. No-one in the house notices, or dares to put you in the recovery position, and you suffocate.

Scenario 2: Crashing to the ground you drop the scissors you were using instead of secateurs and land on them. Sorry - I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

It's a lovely sunny day, the first warm one of spring. The garden is the perfect place for the kids - after all you can watch them from the kitchen window. Every year, a dozen or more children drown in their own garden, and spring, when water-butts are full to the top, is the prime time. Of course, your's are far too sensible. It's just that you have not yet got round to fixing the netting over the pond...

I won't go on. We all want to get out there and enjoy the place, but PLEASE think first, take care and take sensible precautions.

All the best
Graham.