RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
June 22, 2007
RoSPA CELEBRATES BRISTOL SAFETY CENTRE’S SUCCESS
Lifeskills – Learning for Living has become the first safety centre to receive accreditation through a new Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and Department of Health scheme.
The LASER (Learning About Safety by Experiencing Risk) centre in Bristol helps children and other members of the community learn about home, road and leisure safety in an enjoyable and practical way. It uses realistic settings to stress the importance of: taking personal responsibility for your own safety; assessing risks; and learning how to cope when faced with dangerous or difficult circumstances.
A supermarket, houses, garage, road, garden, electricity substation, dark alleyway, building site, playground, stream, railway, farm and countryside make up the 10,000 square metre facility, with sound effects bringing the “village” to life.
LASER Accreditation indicates that Lifeskills – Learning for Living, which is based at The CREATE Centre, Hotwells, has met a set of quality standards covering partnership, programme management and evaluation.
There are about 200 safety schemes across the UK that fall under the general LASER banner. Some are permanent centres, such as Lifeskills, and others are annual events.
RoSPA worked with scheme providers to publish a set of LASER Good Practice Guidelines in 2003, and was then commissioned by the Department of Health to establish an accreditation service for safety centres across England
Accredited schemes are entitled to use the RoSPA/LASER Accreditation logo as a symbol of trustworthiness and quality. Accredited status is maintained through annual reports.
John Vallender, LASER Programme Manager at RoSPA, said: “We are thrilled to present the first LASER Accreditation to Lifeskills – Learning for Living, and we hope that many more schemes will follow in its footsteps.
“LASER schemes provide a powerful interactive approach to safety education and our aim is that they will benefit from a supportive and reassuring accreditation service that will help sustain best practice and further the development of new ways of delivering accident prevention messages.”
Andrew Townsend, Centre Manager, said: “We are proud to be the first centre to achieve this recognition.
“In the seven years we have been operating, we have always tried to improve the service we offer to our varied users. This accreditation demonstrates just how far we have come.”
For more information about LASER schemes, see www.lasersafety.org.uk, call John Vallender on 0121 248 2114 or email jvallender@rospa.com
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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