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Falling is the most common cause of injury for children of all ages. The severity of a fall depends on the height from which the child has fallen, the surface onto which the child falls and the objects or surfaces the child may hit as they fall.
Other injuries such as burns and scalds can occur as a result of a fire, hot surfaces or hot liquids. Swallowing chemicals, poisons and household chemicals such as cleaning products are the most common cause of poisoning in children.
Other causes of injury and death in children include bicycle accidents, road accidents, drowning and choking.

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Factors that put children at risk for falls and injuries include the environment that the individual is in. If their housing environment has stairs, this can potentially put the child at risk. This can also include whether the house or childcare has safety precautions in place. Home safety devices such as window guards, stair gates and rail gates can prevent injuries in the home. Also, ensuring that children wear the appropriate protective gear when playing sports, such as wearing a helmet when riding a bike or having knee and elbow pads when roller skating.
Also, having weak bones can also put a child at risk to more severe injuries as a fall could be more serious leading to broken bones.

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Injuries in the home are the most common place for children to get hurt. In a home the most common place for a child to fall is down the stairs or off of furniture outside of the home children are more likely to fall off of playground equipment or to get hurt in a sport related incident.
Ways to prevent falls or injuries indoors is by putting safety gates or locks around areas children are more likely to fall into or climb can prevent the child from falling and hurting themselves, or if severe enough, death. Taking away any steps or climbing objects in kitchen to prevent the child from cutting or burning themselves.
Making sure the child is wearing safety gear when they are outside playing sport or riding their bike or can prevent them from getting hurt if they fall or get a ball thrown at them.
Treating an injury can go from putting a band aid on the area the child got injured to taking them to the doctor or hospital depending on the severity of the injury.

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In Australia, injury among children aged 1-14 is the leading cause of death with more children dying due to injury than of cancer, asthma and infectious diseases combined. Every year approximately 260 Australian children die and 58,000 are hospitalized. This image shows statistics for Child injuries in Victoria alone:

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BIOLOGICAL
1. Genetics
Protective:
Risk: Children who are smaller are in danger of more injuries. They are less likely to be seen by oncoming vehicles. Smaller children have smaller hands, fingers, toes, arms, toes, feet and legs which can get caught in small gaps
2. Body Weight
Protective:
Risk:

BEHAVIORAL
1. Dietary Behaviours
Protective: if a child has lots of calcium in their diet this can cause them to have strong bones and allow their bones to ossify correctly and to their maximum capacity, and therefore when a child falls, their injury will most likely not be as severe and not result in broken bones.
Risk: if a child has little calcium in their diet this can cause them to have weak bones and a delayed bone density development with their bones not ossifying to reach their peak bone mass, which therefore if the child is involved in an injury, their bones are more fragile and susceptible to breakages.
2. Level of Physical Activity
Protective: children who participate in high levels of physical activity tend to be more agile and have great benefits including stronger muscles and significant motor skills, which therefore acts as a protective factor, as if they have a fall, they are less likely to be severely injured.
Risk: children who do not participate in often physical activity tend to be more fragile as their muscles are not as strong and their motor skills are not as far developed, therefore a risk factor as they will be susceptible to injuries if they fall.
3. Parental Practices
Protective: if parents have taught their children how to behave and not to act irrationally, they are less likely to participate in dangerous activities that could potentially put them at risk and result in injuries
Risk: if parents have not been good role models, the children will most likely mimic this behaviour of irrational behaviours which could lead to them participating in dangerous activities that lead to injuries.
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Factors within the physical environment can act to increase or decrease the risk of falls and injuries.
Examples include:
- Access to Recreational Facilities: Many new playgrounds have been designed to reduce the risk of injury. They have rubber surfaces which decrease the risk of a fall or injury, however, in older playgrounds these surfaces do not exist therefore increases the risk of falls and injuries.
- Housing Environment: Many falls and injuries occur at home. Risks such as, tripping over toys, falling over, knocking things over, spills or leakages, leaving medications, chemicals or poisons in reach of children, hot surfaces left unattended to or leaving a child unsupervised for even a short period of time around a pool or unsafe area etc all increase the risk of a fall or injury occurring, and in worst cases death.
It is important to always take the correct safety precautions and actions in order to keep your child safe and decrease the risk of them having a fall or injuring themselves in the house and outside of the house.
You could do this by:
- Having safety gates between different areas of the house where a child could possibly injure themselves (stairs, pool areas).
- Keeping medications/ chemicals/ poisons out of reach of children.
- Always supervising or being around your child to ensure they do not touch or go near anything dangerous.
- Take them to the safest recreational activity places, where injuries and falls are are not at a high risk.
SOCIAL
1.Peer pressure
Protective
- if they have the knowledge of what is right and wrong the would know to disagree when their friends ask them to take part in risk taking behavior.
Risk
- the child following or taking part in the risk taking behavior his/her friends are doing which could lead to injures.
2. Lack of supervision
Protective
- constant supervision from adult
Risk
- being left on their own often.
3. Lack of knowledge
Protective
- if a child is informed of what to do and what not to do in terms of risk taking behavior, they would have less of a chance of partaking in activities that could increase their chances of falling and injuring themselves.
Risk
- children do not always have knowledge of what is right and wrong regarding how to keep safe which could result in the child engaging in behavior that increases their risk of falls and injuries.
4. Natural Inquisitiveness
Protective
- if dangerous equipment is put away and out of the childs sight and reach, they would have less of a chance of getting injured.
- if the child is told not to play in certain areas or not to touch something, it could prevent them from getting hurt.
Risk
- children could get injured while exploring their surroundings.