National Kidsafe Day, Tuesday October 22^nd 2013

It only takes a split second for a child to be seriously injured, today warned Kidsafe, the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Australia.

Kidsafe is using Tuesday 22^nd October, National Kidsafe Day, to highlight that every week across the country, approximately 5 children die due to preventable, unintentional injury. Families are urged to be constantly aware of their children’s safety.

The key message this National Kidsafe Day, is that child injury ‘is not about the grazes’- it’s about the serious injuries that can change lives in just a split second.

A snapshot of Child Injury in Australia revealed that in a 12 month period:

• 5 children per week died due to an unintentional injury. This figure has more than halved from the average of 14 child deaths per week in 1979.
• 289 children were admitted to hospital due to a non-fatal drowning incident. These can cause severe, long term or permanent disability.
• 2,027 children were admitted to hospital due to poisoning. More than half of these were poisoning incidents involving pharmaceuticals.
• 7,036 children were admitted to hospital due to transport incidents. Over a third of these were bike related.
• 26,734 children were admitted to hospital due to a fall. Falls from playground equipment were the most common cause.

(Source- AIHW, Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2009-10. Report released 30th November 2012).

The National Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, endorsed the importance of Kidsafe’s continuing efforts to reduce child injury rates. Ms Mitchell said, ‘While great achievements have been made over the years in reducing child injury rates, the current rate is still too high. It is important that organisations such as Kidsafe continue to work with the broader community to keep our children safe.’

This year, Kidsafe is proud to be partnering with Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) to launch the National Health and Medical Research Council approved ‘National Guidelines for the Safe Restraint of Children Travelling in Motor Vehicles’ on National Kidsafe Day.

Current research reveals that approximately 70% of children are incorrectly restrained when traveling in a vehicle.

Peter Gibson, National President of Kidsafe, said. “These guidelines will ensure that parents and carers across the country receive straightforward and consistent advice about how to keep children safe when travelling in cars”.

National Kidsafe Day activities will take place across the country, including the announcement of the annual National Kidsafe Day awards. These national awards recognise those in the community who have made a significant contribution to child injury prevention or safety promotion. This year the categories include media, responsible retailer, local hero and Kidsafe support award.

Schools across the country are also being encouraged to take part in National Kidsafe Day by downloading the National Kidsafe Day schools package from www.kidsafeday.com.au/schools, completing the safety activities and entering the competition.

Further details on National Kidsafe Day can be found via www.kidsafeday.com.au

Preventing childhood injury…. It’s not about the grazes

National Child Restraint Guidelines will be launched at 10.30am in NSW at NeuRA:

To organise an interview with NeuRA’s Professor Lynne Bilston or Melita Leeds from Kidsafe, please contact Siobhan Moylan from the NeuRA media office on (02) 9399 1271 or 0406 599 569.

Photos and crash test vision can also be supplied to press.