Trick-or-Treat Safety
Courtney Carter
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Trick-or-Treat Safety

As you ready your little ghouls and goblins for trick-or-treating, it’s important to review basic safety rules to help ensure their holiday is scary in the best possible kind of ways.

Here’s a terrifying Halloween fact: Two times as many child pedestrians die on Halloween compared to other days. Thanks to a too-often deadly combination of being out after dark and wearing vision-limiting costumes, what should be a fun evening of mischief and merriment, Halloween can quickly become an actual nightmare.

However, by taking a few simple precautions and following practices, trick-or-treaters and their escorts can safely navigate their way home with plenty of candy in tow.

Here’s where to start:

COSTUMES

Make sure costumes, wigs and accessories are all fire-resistant.

Make sure costumes and footwear don’t create built-in tripping hazards.

Attach reflective tape to the sides, front and back of costumes and bags or use glow sticks to keep trick-or-treaters visible after dark.

If possible, use make-up instead of masks, which can limit visibility. Be sure to test make up on a small area of skin before applying to a child’s face and remove all makeup before bed to prevent skin and/or eye irritation.

TRICK-OR-TREATING

Always accompany young children around the neighborhood. Older trick-or-treaters should only venture out in the company of at least one other.

Caution children against entering homes or cars for treats.

Only cross the street at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks.

Keep to sidewalks and designated pathways. If there aren’t sidewalks, walk facing traffic and as far off the road as possible.

Encourage children to walk and not run between houses.

Plan your route to keep road crossings to a minimum.

Only go to homes where a porch light is on.

Keep your eyes on the road and not on phones or other electronic devices.

TREAT EATING 

Do not allow children to eat treats before they get home where you can inspect candy.

Do not allow children to eat anything that is not commercially wrapped or any treats with torn or damaged wrappers, including pinholes. Any treats that appear unusual or discolored or suspicious in any way should be thrown out.

If you have young children, remove any small candies, including hard candy, peanuts, or gum, as they may present a choking hazard.

If your child has a food allergy, be sure to read all labels carefully to make sure allergens aren’t present.

DRIVING SAFETY

Drive with your headlights on, even before dusk.

Be alert for kids, especially at intersections, medians and on curbs

If you’re transporting trick-or-treaters, make sure they’re buckled up appropriately in a car seat or with a seat belt each time they get in the car.

If a costume makes it difficult to buckle a car seat or belt correctly, remove the costume or problematic portion of the costume each time they get in the car.

Try to park in spot where you do not need to back up.

Enter and exit driveways, parking spots and side streets with extreme caution.

By being cautious and mindful of safety, you can make ensure Halloween is a treat for all.

Jaclyn Lozier, MD, FAAP, is the Chair of Pediatrics, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and the Medical Director, SVMC Pediatrics.

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Home Office How To

Did you know that many sources of chronic pain start in a poorly arranged office? Carpal tunnel, pinched nerves, overuse injuries can often be traced to chairs being positioned improperly or important tools being positioned outside easy reach. While reaching or straining once or twice wouldn't hurt us at all, doing so repeatedly day after day can cause painful and lasting injuries.

As an occupational health physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, one of my responsibilities is to help employees of SVMC and other companies who have workplace injuries and recommend the adjustments they should make.

During a spike in work-from-home arrangements, I have heard about friends’ and family members' work-from-home set-ups. Some are working from laptops on their couches. Others are set up at kitchen tables. We know that their cats walk across their keyboards and their kids interrupt. Especially since Governor Scott has just indicated that remote workers will likely be the last to return to the traditional workplace, it's time to get our home office arrangements figured out.

That's why I would like to share the important details you need to arrange a healthful workspace and encourage all to invest the time (and sometimes a little bit of money) needed to implement them. Learning these points is key to avoiding injuries, as continued work-from-home policies, where feasible, will help maintain appropriate distancing needed to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

An adjustable chair is the first and most important component of an office set-up. Office chairs include crucial lumbar support and encourage good posture. When your forearms are resting on your desk or table, adjust the chair height up or down until your arms form a right angle. This is an important step in avoiding wrist pain and carpal tunnel, two of the most common office injuries. If, when your arms are in the correct position, your feet are not touching the floor, employ a footstool.

Position your monitor an arm’s length away. (If you can't see the screen from this distance, better go get an eye exam!) And raise the screen so that the top of the screen is eye level. This, too, will encourage good posture.

If you use two monitors, positioning them properly depends on how you use them. If you use them equally, the dividing line between them should be right in front of you. If you use one primarily and the other secondarily, position the more dominant screen directly in front of you. If you use a laptop, consider investing in a riser and an additional keyboard needed to raise the screen to eye level.

Put all of your other tools, including your mouse and phone, within easy reach. If you use the phone a lot, consider investing in a headset.

The only other recommendation I make is to stretch every 15 – 20 minutes. A list of helpful office-oriented stretches is available here. And every hour, be sure to get up and take a short walk or standing stretch.

If you follow these recommendations at home, you will be much more comfortable and are likely to be more productive, too, all while maintaining the social distance we need to keep COVID-19 infections low throughout this next phase of the pandemic. Most importantly, you will save yourself the pain and discomfort of office injury no matter where you're working.

Mark Zimpfer, MD, is a physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center's Occupational Health practice. 

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