2010 DEDICATED AS YEAR OF HOME SAFETY IN SCOTLAND - Home Safety Scotland | Forums

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Posted - 2/5/2010 : 7:05:12 PM

Scotland’s Year of Home Safety is a golden opportunity to tackle the physical, emotional and financial suffering caused by accidents in the home, says the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Co-ordinated by Home Safety Scotland, a programme of activities will take place throughout 2010 to raise awareness of the major causes of home accidents, the unintended injuries which result from them and the simple steps which can be taken to prevent them.

The initiative was officially launched at 11am at IKEA Edinburgh on Wednesday February 3. The following topics will be covered during the year: falls (February); electrical equipment safety (March/April); burns and scalds (May/June); garden safety (July/August); carbon monoxide and other poisoning (September/October); and Christmas electrical safety (November/December).

Jimmy Campbell, chief fire officer at Fife Fire and Rescue Service, spoke at the launch, which was attended by members of Home Safety Scotland, RoSPA Scotland, Scottish Accident Prevention Council and the Electrical Safety Council. There was advice for shoppers on preventing unintended injuries, particularly to children and older people, plus a children’s competition sponsored by IKEA.

In 2008, 23 children died as a result of an unintended injury in Scotland, of whom four were injured in accidents in the home. About 1 in 19 emergency hospital admissions for under-15s is as a result of an unintended injury in the home. Home accidents account for more than a third of children’s emergency hospital admissions which are related to unintentional injuries. In 2008, the number of children admitted to hospital as a result of a home accident was nine times larger than those admitted following a road accident.

Also in 2008 in Scotland, 1,260 adults died as a result of an unintended injury, of whom 210 had an accident in the home. Unintended injury accounts for about 1 in 9 emergency hospital admissions for adults, with more than a quarter of these injury-related admissions being as a result of a home accident.

Under-fives and over-75s are the most at risk of being hurt in a home accident.

Nicola Butters, RoSPA Scotland’s home safety development officer, said: “In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in reducing the number of lives affected, and in the most serious cases torn apart, by home accidents. But the latest figures show more still needs to be done to reduce the suffering caused by accidents such as falls, burns and scalds and poisoning.

“RoSPA Scotland fully supports the Year of Home Safety and welcomes the attention it will bring to the simple steps we can all take to make our homes safer.”

Among the members of Home Safety Scotland are local authority home safety, community safety, health promotion, trading standards and environmental health officers, members of health boards, and representatives of private companies and charities, including RoSPA Scotland.