The terrible accident suffered by a 14-year-old Bradford boy who was badly burned after coming into contact with a flammable liquid at unoccupied industrial premises is a grim reminder of just how many dangers lie in wait for adventurous youngsters, particularly during the school holidays.

With time on their hands, the urge to explore is often hard to resist. The railway companies understand that well enough. Every year they issue a reminder of the dangers of playing on or near railway lines. And almost every year some child somewhere who has defied that warning comes to harm.

It seems impossible to shield youngsters totally from their own sense of adventure and their instinctive reluctance to obey the rules. As a result, tragedies occur.

There are measures that can be taken to protect them, of course. Fencing can be repaired. Dangerous substances can be kept under lock and key. Low branches can be lopped to prevent them climbing trees. Barbed wire can be put around factory roofs to deter them from getting on to them.

But at the end of the day, the ultimate safety of the children rests with them. The risks waiting for them need to be explained to them clearly and repeatedly, in the school and in the home. Even then, of course, there will be some who cannot resist the temptation to put themselves in danger.

It is tragic that it takes an incident like this one to serve them with a warning that might cause them to think before they venture where they shouldn't, at least for a while.