| Child injury prevention Aotearoa |  |
| SAFE KIDS - a child safety service of Starship Children's Health |
NEWS Issue 12 March 2001 |
Safekids Attends Global Conference
on Child Unintentional Injury
In January Sue Kendall travelled to Washington DC to represent Safekids at two conferences on child unintentional injury. Both events were organised by SAFE KIDS America.
The first conference was the inaugural meeting of SAFE KIDS Worldwide. The focus for those attending was to explore ways of reducing the burden of injury to children throughout the world. This international gathering was followed by the 13 th Annual National SAFE KIDS Campaign Conference. Here SAFE KIDS Coalitions from across the United States come together for training and networking on specific aspects of child injury prevention.
Sue reports that both conferences were very exciting and highly informative. They were also however, very affirming of the directions and strategies currently being implemented in New Zealand to address the issues of child safety. For more details read the articles below.
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| Sue Kendall (second from left) pictured with Camilla Taft (left), Manager of SAFE KIDS Worldwide Heather Paul (right) Executive Director of SAFE KIDS Worldwide and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, and Lesley Hutchinson from South Africa (far right) |
| I N S I D E . . . |
More on a Minister for Children Setting the Standards Kidsafe Week
- IPRC findings - Information & planning Days
- Checklist Win eye opener for whanau
- Dates for Kidsafe Week 2001 Information and Planning Days
- A brand new children’s book for Kidsafe Week 2001
Strategic Partnerships in Action
What’s Hot in Counties Manukau
Pasifika Injury Prevention Aukalana (P.I.P.A.)
IPRU expands its statistics service on-line
SAFE KIDS Worldwide
Building a Global Team
SAFE KIDS in America through their networking with other countries has become increasingly aware of the global scale of unintentional injury to children. A strong belief that collaboration and the development of local coalitions is a key step to addressing child safety issues has recently prompted them to form SAFE KIDS Worldwide and host an inaugural conference in Washington DC.
With funding support from Johnson and Johnson, 45 delegates from 18 countries attended and were encouraged through a series of workshops and presentations to examine the contributing factors to child injury and to share experiences of successful initiatives between countries and cultures. Time was also taken to discuss SAFE KIDS Worldwide as an organisation, how it would be governed and what would be expected of countries who joined. Safekids in New Zealand along with other delegates has been invited to join as a founding member. We are currently considering the pros and cons of this invitation.
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| Delegates from around the world attending the SAFE KIDS Worldwide Leadership Conference in Washington DC. |
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SAFE KIDS Worldwide An Overview The SAFE KIDS Worldwide mission is to prevent unintentional injury to children across the globe. It is a network of childhood injury control programmes that aims to successfully link organisations, communities and the private sector in effective philanthropy and cause marketing to better protect children. |
| >A SAFE KIDS Worldwide are committed to a model that includes: |
- sound scientific research to address childhood injuries,
- grassroots coalition building for implementation of prevention activities,
- activation of public policy efforts,
- sophisticated communication strategies to create national awareness, and
- proven, cost-effective interventions, to prevent childhood injury that are tailored to the customs and conditions of each culture.
National SAFE
KIDS Campaign
13th Annual Conference
Each year SAFE KIDS in America hosts a national conference for their 300 plus coalitions. The 13th annual conference was attended by over 800 participants from all parts of the United States, as well as many international delegates from the SAFE KIDS Worldwide conference.
This conference focused on building the skill levels of Coalition Co-ordinators and members, as well as providing an opportunity for sharing and networking between Coalitions.
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| Sue along with other SAFE KIDS Worldwide delegates from Australia, Spain, Brazil, UK and Greece enjoy some of the abundant Washington DC hospitality. |
Conference attendees could choose from a wide variety of workshops including sports safety, influencing public policy, fund raising, Coalition finance, media training as wel as many other topics specifically designed to meet the needs of Coalitions. A number of new initiatives were also launched, including the “Make it a SAFE KIDS Summer” campaign and the SAFE KIDS extranet.
The conference also profiled the close relationship SAFE KIDS in America has developed with key corporations, to provide funding and added value to enable SAFE KIDS Coalitions to undertake injury prevention activities in their local communities. Sue tells us that she has come back with lots of great ideas and enthusiasm that she intends to put into place for Kidsafe Week 2001, and that she can’t wait to get out and share these with Coalitions.
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| Cross cultural exchange, Sue Kendall exchanges a hongi with Dr Marty Eichelberger, President of SAFE KIDS Worldwide and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. |
| Child Injury Prevention Aotearoa |
ADVOCACY UPDATE |
Baby walkers: Real action at last!
As many of you will be aware, late last year the Ministry for Consumer Affairs released a discussion paper on baby walker safety calling for comment on a range of possible options. We were delighted to note that the Ministry was putting forward as their preferred option the development of a mandatory standard. While this was not the product ban that so many of us had been calling for, it is certainly a great step forward.
Submissions on the discussion document closed on 16 February and many of you will have
responded to the call. In our submission we summarised our position as follows:
“Safekids strongly support the adoption of a mandatory standard as a step towards
reducing the incidence and severity of baby walker injuries. However, it is necessary to
ensure that ongoing monitoring of the impact of the standard is carried out to ensure that
the standard is effective in reducing baby walker injuries. Should the evidence show that
the re-designed products do not substantially reduce the risk of injury, a product ban and
recall should be undertaken.”
| The Ministry is currently considering the submissions they have received and pulling together what they term a “final view”. There will then be further opportunity for comment. We’ll all be keeping a careful eye on this one! |
- Playground equipment
Work is presently underway to develop an interim New Zealand Standard of the Safety Requirements for Playground Equipment. This came about as the result of a recent decision to cease work on a joint Australian/ NZ Standard on playground equipment.
The committee is assessing the potential for the adoption of an international standard or standards and is looking at any amendments that may be required for local conditions and regulations. The Ministry of Health is a partial funder for the committee’s work and Safekids will be the Ministry’s representative on the committee.
Publication of an interim standard is planned for May/ June 2001 and it is hoped a full NZ standard will be produced by mid 2002.
- Scooters
As we reported in our last issue, ACC is funding Standards New Zealand to work with Standards Australia to develop a joint Australian/ New Zealand Standard for scooters. Safekids has been invited to be part of the committee developing the Standard (CS/071). Other New Zealand organisations represented on the committee are ACC, Consumer Affairs and the Retail Merchants Association.
 Keep safe: |
While the funding came through too late for us to attend the first December we are attending the second committee meeting in Melbourne during March. It is anticipated the Standard may be ready for publication by September/ October 2001. We’ll report in more detail on the standard’s development in the next Safekids News.
- Cigarettes
While it may seem strange to many to talk about cigarettes and safety in the same breath, a bill is presently before Parliament which if passed, will require Standards New Zealand to create a safety standard for cigarettes.
The Cigarettes (Fire Safety) Bill, sponsored by Alliance MP Grant Gillon, is presently before the Government Administration Select Committee and submissions (due March 31) have been called for.
The idea for the bill comes from the United States, where a government study suggests it may be possible to manufacture a cigarette that is less likely to start fires.
If you want to find out more about the bill and perhaps consider a submission on it, we suggest you visit www.ash.org.nz, the web site of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). You’ll not only find some good background information but also some useful tips on writing a submission.
| See also our special article from Lisa Tipping (Standards New Zealand) |
More on a Minister for Children
In this issue we bring you a view from the Beehive and also a response from Children’s Agenda and Child Policy Reference Group member Ian Hassall.
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We
canvassed both Laila Harre (Minister of Youth Affairs) and Steve Maharey
(Minister of Social Services) for their views on the idea of a Minister
for Children. Both clearly articulated the need to make government
structures and mechanisms more responsive to the rights and needs
of children.
While neither was prepared to commit themselves to the idea of a Minister for Children, there was some support for this as one possible option, and some support for the ideas outlined in the report ‘Effective Government Structures for Children,’ profiled in our last issue. Laila Harre “[The report..] presents some very persuasive arguments in favour of the appointment of a Minister of Children’s Affairs. However it is not the only option….More detailed debate is needed about how to develop existing structures and integrating arrangements for children into the overall structure of Government. The whole process needs to become more child friendly.” The Ministers are also in agreement on how the idea of a Minister for Children might best be progressed. Steve Maharey “The debate about what may be the most appropriate structures and mechanisms to improve the way children’s issues are taken into account by Government, might take place within the context of current work being undertaken on developing the Children’s Policy Agenda.” Given this suggestion, we were pleased to also get some comments from Ian Hassall, Children’s Agenda and Child Policy Reference Group member. Ian’s views pretty much echo those of both Ministers. While he thinks a Minister is probably a good idea he believes attention must first be given to how a coherent children’s policy is to be constructed. “[ We] ..aim to build a policy for children on themes that reflect children’s interests rather than on traditional sectoral divisions. For an issue such as child safety, the roles of responsible Ministries and Departments, ie Health, Education, Housing, Town Planning and Child Protection, among others, will be co-ordinated according to a coherent policy based on children’s rights and interests and administered by a unit whose budget is negotiated by a Cabinet Minister and/ or Cabinet Committee with clout. That is the kind of Minister for Children I would like to see”. |
| The Children’s Policy Agenda is clearly a document anyone interested in children’s rights, including their right to representation at the highest levels of government, will want to look at. Consultation gets underway this month. For more information contact www.mosp.govt.nz |
Readers may be aware that Standards New Zealand (SNZ) recently initiated a project to work with a range of stakeholders (including Safekids) to adopt an international standard, or standards, for playground equipment safety. |
The need for such standards to help protect children from injury is self-evident through the statistics. For those of you who may not know exactly who we are and what we do, the following information may be interesting. |
| What is a standard? |
The dictionary defines a standard as “a measure to which others conform or by which the accuracy or quality of others is judged.” Standards come in several guises. The most important difference is probably that between voluntary and mandatory standards.
Most of the some 2000 plus standards currently on SNZ’s books are voluntary. They provide nationally accepted benchmarks for product safety and use. Voluntary standards are usually cheaper to produce and maintain than mandatory standards. Some examples relevant to child safety are playground equipment, and safety barriers.
However a number of standards (around 5%) are mandatory and are cited in legislation or regulation. Government is the only body that can make standards mandatory. Not complying with a mandatory standard may result in an appearance in court. Examples of mandatory standards are cycle helmets, children’s nightclothes and cigarette lighters.
| Standards New Zealand: Who are we? |
The New Zealand Standards Council is a Crown Entity created through the Standards Act 1988, and whose members are appointed by the Minister of Commerce. SNZ is the trading arm of the Council.
SNZ is the country’s largest provider of standards, with access to international standards produced by major overseas standards bodies and industries. We are by no means the only provider of standards in New Zealand, but producing standards and standards-related products is our core business.
SNZ has nearly 70 years experience in the business of developing standards, codes of
practice, handbooks etc. We respond to the needs of industry by providing an independent,
objective and consensus based process to develop standard products that are required by
paying clients. We have a staff of 45, and are supported by over 2000 New Zealanders who
volunteer their time to serve on the many and varied boards and committees.
| We use an internationally recognized process that is transparent and consensus-based. Our independence is extremely important in our management role and ensures the end result is free from bias. Further, we are not involved with certification or audit against the standards we develop, and therefore have no conflict of interest. |
| What is the development process? |
The standards development process is a logical process that is applicable across a range of sectors. A diagram, describing the key steps and outputs follows:
In the standards development process there may be a number of drafts and re-drafts of the document, consideration and incorporation of committee views, robust public consultation, review and then formal approval and acceptance of the final document. The timeframes may be specified as required.
It is SNZ’s job to ensure that the varying interests within an expert committee are managed into a consensus view for a standard, or majority view for a code of practice. The committee may represent all key interests in the subject, including government, industry and consumer perspectives. We have also developed web-based tools to utilize password-protected sites for each project to enable drafts to be distributed, provide a threaded discussion forum, and allow input by committee members.
| What work is SNZ
currently doing in the child safety sector? In addition to the Playground Equipment Safety standard already mentioned, we are currently working across range of projects managed between Australia and New Zealand. These include:
For more information please contact Lisa Tipping, GM Business Relationships at Standards New Zealand, phone 04 495 0919 or lisa.tipping@standards.co.nz |
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The Injury Prevention Research Centre (IPRC) have just released their evaluation findings on the Kidsafe Week 2000 Information and Planning Days.
The evaluation results confirm that these days are really valued by coalition members and that the vast majority of people who attend feel they really improve their knowledge and ability to plan local community action.
Another pleasing finding is that the majority (82%) of people who attended felt they received a great deal of support by Safekids in their Kidsafe Week activities. Safekids are thrilled about receiving such positive feedback and are very much looking forward to getting back out there in April to undertake this year’s Kidsafe Week planning days.
The key findings were:
- attendees reported significant improvement in their ability to both plan and implement local community action with regard to both cycle safety and falls prevention,
- attendees reported significant improvement in their knowledge of both national and local statistics related to cycle and fall injuries,
- 82% of attendees rated Safekids support for Kidsafe Week as good, very good, or excellent, and
- 73% of attendees said it was very important or extremely important to have the Kidsafe Week planning days.
| We at Safekids also believe the
planning days are a very important part of getting Kidsafe Week off the ground, so please
note the dates for this years’ days in your diary and make attendance a priority! Kidsafe Week 2001 - October 12th - 19th |
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“The win has made Te Whao and his
immediate family look at their whole safety. In terms of safety features, they hadn’t
thought that much about what they already had or what they needed before that. Winning
gave them the chance to look at improving safety for everyone.” After much
consideration, the whanau chose to spend Te Whao’s prize money on improving water
safety as boating and fishing are a family passion. While the whanau had lifejackets on
their boat, they were missing other important safety gear. Flares, a boat safety kit, a
cellphone (in case of emergency) and a spotlight will be purchased to make all whanau
members, big and small, safe on the water. Te Whao’s kura, Te Kura o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, which encouraged students to study the issue of safety for themselves and younger children during Kidsafe Week 2000, will also benefit with the completion of a fence and purchase of items like safety matting for its playground. |
KIDSAFE WEEK 2001
12th - 19th October
Dates for the Kidsafe Week 2001 Information and Planning Days |
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‘Esme Helps Out’
A brand new children's book for Kidsafe Week 2001
Following the success of ‘Alice’s Exciting Day’ a new book has been produced for Kidsafe Week 2001. Produced by the Waimakariri Kidsafe Coalition and written by Children’s Librarian Lynda Seaton, the book ‘Esme Helps Out’ deals with poison prevention. It is aimed at pre-schoolers, and their families and caregivers.
Two versions of the book have been produced with different families, one in English and one in Maori. Each page features colour photographs, which expand and complement the 12 pages of text. As before, the inside of the back page has a list of things to talk about relating to each page. On the back cover is first aid information and the number for the National Poisons Centre.
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| Esme and her mother making sure medicines are stored safely. |
As part of their activities in 2000, the Waimakariri Coalition approached their local Rotary Club to sponsor the provision of a copy of last year’s book to every early childhood centre and doctor’s surgery in the district. These were very well received and it’s planned to do the same this year. Copies will also be sent to new entrant classes.
‘Esme Helps Out’ will be made available to Kidsafe Week Coalitions at the Information and Planning Day at a cost of $5. Copies can also be ordered directly from Lynda Seaton, Waimakariri District Library, Private Bag 1005, Rangiora, or by e-mail, lmseaton@clear.net.nz.
Strategic Partnerships in Action
Safekids
is delighted to announce a newly formed relationship with Warehouse Stationery. We were
bought together by George Stephens from the Manukau Fire Safety department. Having worked
successfully with the Fire Service, Warehouse Stationery was keen to sponsor another
safety-focused organisation and George suggested Safekids. Like all good relationships we
believe the partnership will be of real benefit to both parties.
So what might this relationship mean for child safety? You may have already noticed some safety messages appearing in Warehouse Stationery’s “back to school” mailer. There will be more safety messages featuring in future editions so keep an eye out for these. The Warehouse Stationery’s mascot, Mr Pencil ( see picture) will be used to promote child safety messages to children and parents.
Warehouse Stationery has also generously donated to Safekids the proceeds of a recent charity golf match. The money will be well used in this year’s Kidsafe Week to advance our two themes. Warehouse Stationery may also be able to provide Kidsafe Week with some prizes for competitions.
Both parties hope to make this an on-going relationship. Safekids is currently exploring the possibility of securing support from a service club to co-ordinate fundraising activities outside Warehouse Stationery outlets during back to school periods. This may be an opportunity for coalitions around the country to become involved should they wish to do so. We’ll keep you posted on this one.
| Our sincere thanks go to Warehouse Stationery (and to Mr Pencil) for their support and commitment to child safety. |
What’s hot in Counties/Manukau!
| Launch of Hot Water Burns Prevention Programme Preventing hot water burns is a key priority for the Counties Manukau region. Each year over 35 Manukau children are hospitalised due to scald-related injuries. A joint initiative is currently underway in the region to raise awareness of scalds and related injuries. Groups and organisations involved include Safekids, South Seas Kids, Injury Free Counties Manukau, Health Pasifica, A+ Public Health Promotion, Puukaki Ki Te Aakitai, Plunket, NZ Fire Service, ACC and the Burn Support Group. The project covers a range of strategies including hosting a scalds symposium for key stakeholders, an education programme, advocacy with Housing New Zealand and private rental agencies and the promotion of information at DIY stores. |
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One idea of particular interest has been the development of a promotional resource in the form of a drinking mug. The mugs will be distributed in conjunction with the project. Southern Cross Junior Campus School in Mangere took part in a ‘Scald Prevention Mug Design’ competition, where students needed to come up with a logo highlighting the dangers of scalding. Pupil Adrienne Auimatagi’s winning design, “Learn I Burn!” has been reproduced onto the mugs.
“We know that cups of hot drink are a major cause of scalds to children under the age of two and the idea of placing a message directly on a mug is an innovative means of getting the message across,” says Shayne Nahu from Injury Free Counties Manukau.
For further
information, please contact Shayne Nahu, Co-ordinator, Injury Free Counties Manukau. |
What’s New?
Recent Release of UNICEF Report:
A league table of child deaths by injury in rich nations - Feb 2001 UNICEF has just
released this report and the news is not good for New Zealand. The report ranks OECD
countries according to their child injury death rates for children aged 1 to 14. In a
field of 26, New Zealand comes in at place 22. Only the United States, Portugal, Mexico
and Korea fare worse than New Zealand. At the other end of the table Sweden, followed by
the UK, Italy and the Netherlands are doing the best. New Zealand has over double the rate
of child injury deaths of each of these four countries. This report lists the ‘key
findings’ and makes a number of important recommendations.
***Available online at http://www.unicef-icdc.org/presscentre/index.html as a .PDF file which can be downloaded. Otherwise, a hard-copy can be borrowed from the Safekids Information and Resource Centre. |
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New Information Packs: Safekids has produced the following Information Packs, which are available for wider distribution: 1. General unintentional child injury Each pack includes: factsheets, handouts on prevention strategies, a handout on advocacy for child safety and a Safekids Information Centre bibliography specific to that topic.
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CHANGES
TO There has been a number of changes and additions to the Safekids website including; a Safekids submission to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs re: baby-walker safety, a Safekids position paper on the discussion document “Road Safety Strategy 2010” and the addition of an archive of previous issues of “Safekids News”.
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Book Review: Injury prevention and public health: Practical knowledge, skills, and strategies. Christoffel, Tom and Gallagher, Susan Scavo Gaithersburg, Aspen Publishers: 1999 This book presents complex information in an understandable and inviting manner. Topics are covered in self-contained chapters that begin with “what this chapter is about” and end with appropriate conclusions; yet the entire book is interwoven into a coherent whole. The book provides an excellent synthesis of the three major elements of injury prevention: the nature and magnitude of injury, the basic concepts of prevention, and practical approaches for implementing prevention programmes. The authors have combined injury prevention research with public health practice perspectives. This book is targeted to public health students and practitioners for an engaging introductory review of injury prevention research and practices. Although American in origin, a lot of the content is still applicable to a New Zealand situation.
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PASIFIKA INJURY PREVENTION AUKALANA (P.I.P.A.) fakalofa lahi atu kia orana talofa lava malo e lelei bula vinaka In November 2000 a group of Pacific Island injury prevention workers within the Auckland region set up a group called the Pasifika Injury Prevention Aukalana (P.I.P.A.) The group will act as a forum whereby workers will meet on a monthly basis. It is envisaged that members will :
The group has already made submissions in support of Safekids in terms of the Road Safety 2010 Strategy and baby walkers. Contact Person: Iani Nemani, Manukau City Council, phone: (09) 263-7100 ext. 8731. |
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IT’S A BOY! Pictured above Shelley Hanifan (Safekids Director) with baby son Reilley, born 24th January 2001. Shelley and husband Chris are extremely happy and overjoyed with Reilley’s arrival. |
IPRU expands its statistics
service on line As many of you will already be aware the Injury Prevention Research Unit (IPRU) last year up-dated its website ( www.otago.ac.nz/ipru) to include the NIQS (the National Injury Query System) which allows you to query the injury statistics database using a series of criteria such as fatal/ non fatal injury, year(s), cause of injury, age and gender. The NIQS was always intended to provide relatively basic information and it does this extremely well. More recently the IPRU has added a direct query email address statsenquiry@ipru.otago.ac.nz which enables access to far more detailed information on an individual basis. IPRU will need to know what your question is and how you will use the information. What population you are interested in? What do you want to achieve? IPRU staff will get back to you within a working week about your request. If your question can’t be answered from the data available they will suggest alternatives.
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| We welcome your contribution to Safekids News. If there is an issue, information or programme which you’d like to tell other child injury prevention people about, just call Rhonda to discuss including it in Safekids News on Ph (09) 820 1190 Fax (09) 820 1191 or email rhondaj@ahsl.co.nz |
