Refrigerator deaths

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 16

Refrigerator deaths

When a child dies from suffocation in an old refrigerator or freezer which has been left lying about, the response of many is likely to be frustration at a death so needless when a little care or foresight is all that is needed to remove the hazard. Unfortunately, devising measures to counteract a very human carelessness or forgetfulness is not easy. Old refrigerators are often cumbersome and the easy way out when they are being replaced is to drag them to the back door or into a shed and leave them there, perhaps with the thought that they might one day be sold for a dollar or two. Too little thought is given to their being death-traps.

Combating this carelessness, which in the instance of almost any other outmoded household item would be of no consequence, is not easy. Since the recent tragedy in Auckland, various local authorities have been considering ways in which the hazard could be eliminated. If only a few people were encouraged to take their own old refrigerators to the dump by the waiving of dump fees, the move would be useful. More useful still would be a service to remove old refrigerators or freezers when their replacements are installed. The service clubs may be able to devise such a scheme.

More practicable and efficient would be a scheme whereby the firms which supply the replacements also take the old appliance away for dumping. If necessary, a small payment could be made to the firms. Certainly if having an old refrigerator or freezer removed were, for the householder, a matter of no more than a telephone call to a service club or an instruction to a serviceman, fewer would remain where they are accessible to children. Even if no scheme to facilitate the prompt dumping of old refrigerators can be set in train, people should be kept aware of the danger. Most people could take the simple precaution of disabling the lock of a refrigerator. Another tragedy has drawn attention to the hazard, but some way must be found of keeping the problem on the public mind. A warning printed on electricity accounts might be an effective way of doing this. A recommendation with the supply of every new refrigerator would be apt. Legislating against the dangers that arise in every household is not the best course. Efforts to remind people of hazards and to make it easier for people to remove dangers must be the main ways of dealing with such problems.