Page 14 - Big Book of Accident Prevention

Case study 2: 15 LASER “Being part of RoSPA’s Laser Alliance allows 120 LASER 100 us to attend national and regional events and workshops and to meet other safety Indicator 2.7: Hospital admissions caused by unintentional and deliberate injuries in under-18s 80 professionals. As regional champions, we Learning About Safety by Experiencing Risk (LASER) is an approach used by schemes such as Crucial Crew and Unintentional (accidental) injury rate per 1,000 population 60 Home Road Junior Citizen. Practical, interactive scenarios teach children aged 9–11 how to deal with hazards in a fun and 40 Leisure would encourage anyone in a similar field to exciting way. “Learning by doing” benefits children hugely throughout life as it teaches them to assess risks and consider becoming a member of the Alliance.” become more independent so they can enjoy activities, such as climbing trees, safely. The LASER Alliance – a 20 network of organisations using the LASER approach – is hosted by RoSPA. 0 Age Groups Source: Julie Evans, Centre Manager, Dangerpoint 0 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 14 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 34 35 - 39 40 - 44 45 - 49 50 - 54 55 - 59 60 - 64 65 - 69 70 - 74 75 - 79 80 - 84 85+ Evidence Plan/resource/partner Delivery Evaluation According to the Audit Commission’s report, “Better About 200 LASER schemes operate around the UK. Children who take part in LASER schemes learn LASER centres use surveys to assess the knowledge safe than sorry”: “Unintentional injury is a leading cause Some run all-year-round at permanent venues, such how to deal with hazards through group work in and skills of children before and after their LASER of death and illness among children aged 1–14 years, as Bristol’s LifeSkills centre, Edinburgh’s Risk Factory, a controlled and supervised environment. Their session. Many centres are also independently and causes more children to be admitted to hospital Talacre’s Dangerpoint or Birmingham’s Safeside. knowledge and confidence are increased, evaluated. For example, a joint team of researchers each year than any other reason”. attitudes changed and skills developed. from the Universities of Oxford and Oxford Brookes Annual schemes, that operate for one to four weeks, evaluated the Bristol LifeSkills programme. The For every serious injury that results in an overnight are run by local authorities, emergency services, Practical demonstrations show pupils aged 9–11 results showed that at three and 12 months post- hospital admission, there are 25–30 times as many visits utilities firms and charities working together – and can what to do in a range of situations, such as if they visit, children who had visited LifeSkills were more to A&E due to less serious injuries. In 2010, these less reach large numbers of pupils in a short space of time. see someone get into difficulty in water or discover knowledgeable and performed better on nearly serious injuries resulted in 4.51 million attendances to a fire. Children are given the opportunity to work all relevant tests and were rated as more confident A&E by children and young people under the age of 20 Covering home, road, leisure and personal safety through the scenarios themselves, using problem- in dealing with emergencies than control children. – equivalent to one third of this age group. issues, these events are relatively inexpensive as solving skills. costs can be shared. They can be held at a suitable These results suggest that while LifeSkills can Children need to be taught how to enjoy the world venue or visit schools in a roadshow style. Such memorable activities help children to become improve children’s safety knowledge it also had a around them while keeping themselves free from more confident and independent. positive effect on children’s capacity to act on their injury. Evidence shows that LASER teaching methods Nottinghamshire FRS Safety Zone provides an knowledge. The evaluators stressed the importance enable children to retain information such as hazard opportunity for more than 2,000 schoolchildren aged of the “vivid and realistic sets as a backdrop for recognition and rescue procedures more effectively, 9 to 11 to learn about safety and the prevention of similar interactive small group teaching methods”. and for longer periods of time, than classroom-based accidents in a realistic setting. This takes place over study. two weeks at the National Water Sports Centre at “A mother who was electrocuted Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. Figure 11 – Hospital admissions in England in 2010/11 while watching TV has praised amongst 0-14 year olds due to unintentional injuries her young son and his best friend Children learn how to use a payphone to make a 999 who saved her life. The young emergency phone call hero had been to a home safety event the week before and knew exactly what action to take. Harley learned his life-saving skills at the Falls 37% Accidental poisoning 5% Crucial Crew event, which was held Struck by blunt or sharp Burns, scalds or object 10% venomous bites 3% at Norfolk Showground.” Norwich Transport 8% Drowning, strangulation Evening News, September 23, 2006 Foreign body entering or suffocation 1% through orifice or skin 5% Other Other strikes, crushing, bites or stings 5% Source: NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents