Survey of accidents in a university day-care center.

Accident reporting provides useful data for the analysis of injuries in day-care centers. This article reports the results of a survey study conducted to analyze accidental injuries in a large university day-care center in Southern California. Data were collected from individual student accident report forms filed by the teachers for the 1987 calendar year. A total of 103 accident reports were analyzed. Fifty-seven children ranging in age from 6 months to 6 years were involved in 103 accidents. The results of the study revealed that the highest number of accidents occurred among children 3 and 4 years of age. The majority of the accidents occurred during horseplay or while the children were running or fighting. Although no deaths or permanent disability occurred, this number of accidents do warrant the need for safety education.