RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
October 12, 2000
NEW HOME SAFETY NETWORK LAUNCHED AT RoSPA CONGRESS
Plans for a national network promoting home safety are to be announced at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents annual home safety congress in November.
The conference, "Sharing Good Practice", sponsored by William Levene, manufacturers of the Culinare SafetyCan, will be held at the Moat House Hotel, Stratford upon Avon, on November 6 and 7.
The network is needed as more than 2.8 million people are injured in the home each year and 4,000 killed - making home accidents the UK’s biggest safety problem.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Safety Unit has completed a survey looking at ways to build a National Network for Home Safety Promotion. Both local and national home safety professionals were consulted.
The research revealed a wide variation in methods and responsibility for the promotion of home safety across the UK.
Sarah Colles, RoSPA Home Safety Adviser, said: "We understand details of the new network will be announced at our congress, which is the UK’s leading event for home safety professionals.
"The introduction of such a scheme would encourage more successful working by promoting cross-government links, co-ordinating strong national campaign themes and giving home safety activists examples of best practice in home safety promotion."
At the congress, Nicholas Dean, from the Department of Health, will discuss what the Government is doing in terms of accident prevention with reference to "Our Healthier Nation" - the White Paper stressing the need for both local and health authorities to work together in a culture where good practice is shared.
Speakers from abroad include Ilse Volkstead, Consumer Safety Institute, Amsterdam, and Pierre Le Guerinel, Consumer Safety Commission, Paris.
Other ideas to be shared include: community loan equipment schemes; the use of identity cards for teenagers to help regulate the sale of fireworks, alcohol and cigarettes; and the use of carbon monoxide detectors.
