Child injury prevention Aotearoa

Too whiitiki kaa ora. Heretia too whiitiki Heretia too whakapapa

Operation Whiitiki is a community based programme which is getting children involved in seat belt safety awareness. The main driving force behind the organisation of this programme has been Hinewhare Harawira, from a community group in Avondale, 'Te Rangatahi Tuarua Trust'.

Operation Whiitiki

Drive-over Injuries Project

Improving glass safety in our schools

Tai Tokerau - Northland Community Injury Project

Kidsafe Week 2001

• Information and Planning Days
• Plunket training on car seat fitting
• ACC Mini Grants
• Kidsafe Week Info-line
• Kidsafe Week Resources

SAFEKIDS Worldwide

Advocacy Update

• New Standards to improve Playground Safety
• The Agenda for Children - discussion paper out
• Safety in Housing New Zealand Homes

News from the Injury Prevention Network (IPN)

Info Centre Update

Operation Whiitiki Operation Whiitiki is a community based programme which is involving children in seat belt safety awareness. The programme has been running at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o nga Maungarongo in Mt. Albert, Auckland throughout 2000 and into 2001. A driving force behind Operation Whiitiki has been Hinewhare Harawira, from Te Rangatahi Tuarua Trust, a community group in Avondale. With the assistance of a classroom teacher, children are learning about the importance of using seatbelts and/or child restraints on every car journey. A group of children are then carefully trained to put the programme into practice. Because a large number of children attending this kura are driven to school, Operation Whiitiki runs between 3 and 5 in the afternoon to coincide with the end of the school day when parents drive into the school grounds to collect their children. It is the children themselves who conduct the operation, under the careful supervision of Hinewhare. Hinewhare's son, Tohora, making sure 'baby' is buckled in safely Bright traffic cones are set up as a checkpoint towards the driveway exit and the children involved also wear bright safety vests. They learn the appropriate hand signal to bring a car to a standstill and then are taught to carry out a seatbelt check. If ALL occupants are safely ‘buckled-in’, they are each awarded a seat-belt safety give away (i.e. chocolates, balloons, pens etc.) The driver also gets a reward and is congratulated for being responsible and ensuring the safety of all passengers in the car. Operation Whiitiki runs for a week at a time and is scheduled for the last week of term before each holiday break and long weekends like Labour weekend and Easter, when many whanau travel home for weddings and unveilings. Operation Whiitiki has also been ‘on the road’ to Pasifika at Western Springs and the secondary schools’ Cultural Festival at Manukau. Feedback on the scheme has been very positive. Children are remembering to buckle up and are passing the message onto others. Parents are also reminded of their responsibility for passenger safety when driving. At the end of this year Operation Whiitiki will be evaluated by way of a survey to parents and discussion at whanau hui. Too whiitiki kaa ora Your seatbelt is your lifeline Heretia too whiitiki Clamp on your seatbelt Heretia too whakapapa Clamp onto your whakapapa Operation Whiitiki is a wonderful example or injury prevention working at a community level. Much of its success can be attributed to the commitment of all the children involved, Hinewhare and her team of helpers. You can contact Hinewhare to discuss the programme on: (021) 213 2127 or terang@ihug.co.nz

The Head of Trauma Services at Starship Hospital, Mr. Phillip Moreau, and Safekids, are collaborating on a project to address the unacceptably high number of young children killed in off-road environments in New Zealand. Off –road environments, such as home driveways, pose a significant risk to young children. At least 40 children under 5 were killed in off road-environments in the 10 years from 1986 until 1995 and a further 219 children were hospitalised between 1994 and 1998.

The numbers of children killed in New Zealand in off road drive-overs is considerably higher than in many other industrialised countries. Drive-over injuries are usually severe and often fatal. Children hit by cars, even when driven at low speeds, typically experience massive injuries. Many of these children are killed instantly. Others experience severe head, abdominal and chest injuries which have devastating and long lasting effects.

While there have been a number of studies conducted, both within New Zealand and overseas, to determine the rate and circumstances of injury of children hit by vehicles in residential driveways, there is a need to update the information and this is what the project will initially focus on.

Recent Starship Hospital and coroners’ records of children injured in driveways will be reviewed to determine the rate, severity and circumstances of injury. The results of the study will be used to detect possible risk factors. This will assist us to identify injury prevention strategies that could be used in the attempt to prevent or reduce further driveway injuries and fatalities.

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.”

Christina's Story Two year old Christina had waken up from her sleep and slipped outside unnoticed through a door left open because of the hot summer weather. She had made her way around to the side of her family’s house and onto the driveway. Christina was hidden from view around the back of the family van when her dad came outside and hopped into the van to go down to the local hardware shop. Her dad checked in the rear vision mirror, but, not seeing Christina, started backing down the drive. He reversed over his daughter. Christina suffered severe head and liver injuries. She died on arrival at hospital. If the driveway at Christina’s house had been fenced off, this tragedy may have been avoided.

Improving glass safety in our schools

The Ministry of Education has recently commenced a $7.5 million project to improve glass safety at the nation’s schools. The project came about because of a fatal accident five years ago at Bohally Intermediate in Blenheim, when a student chasing a netball fell through a classroom window.

Initially a survey of all schools was undertaken to assess both glass and structural safety of school buildings and from this survey three major categories of glass hazards from a safety perspective were identified. Glass in doors and in windows adjacent to doors Glass within 6 metres of marked out courts Glass in windows with a sill height lower than 800 mm.

Contractors fitting safety film at Te Aro School Wellington

Following the survey the Ministry worked with the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) to assess the suitability of applying safety film to school windows in order to meet the ‘requirements’ of NZS 4233: Part 3:1999 Glazing in Buildings. BRANZ established that safety film, when correctly specified and applied, satisfied the requirements of the Standard.

Tenders were then invited by the Ministry from two companies whose film met the required standard and a contract was let to Lexicon Systems Ltd in December 2000. By the end of April, over 500 schools had been surveyed and measured and filming had commenced in Auckland, Wellington and Nelson/ Marlborough. The project will run through until February 2002 and eventually every school in the country will be covered

One of the key benefits of the project will be to raise the level of awareness about the issue of safety glass in schools and the need to replace glass when broken in accordance to the New Zealand Standard. The approval by BRANZ to the use of film also provides a practical and economic solution for School Boards of Trustees to improve the safety of existing windows.

If you want any further information on this project please contact Frank Hodgkinson, Property Management Group, Ministry of Education, DDI 04 463 8287 or email: frank.hodgkinson@minedu.govt.nz

	KIDSAFE WEEK 2001
	Information and Planning Days Well Attended

Sue and Rachel have just returned from a whistle stop tour around the country facilitating 15 Kidsafe Week Information and Planning Days. Over 240 people from a wide variety of organisations attended making each Information Day unique. Safekids wishes to acknowledge the time and effort put in by each local contact person who took on the responsibility for organising the Information Day in their area and to all those who took time out of their busy schedules to attend. We hope that the information provided has now given you a sound basis on which to plan your Kidsafe Week 2001 initiatives.

Coalition Groups from Canterbury discussing Kidsafe Week as part of the Information and Planning Day.

Getting the right fit
- training on car seat fitting

Safekids were disappointed to hear that their application to the Road Safety Trust for funding to support coalitions to undertake car seat fitting clinics was turned down. Some funding has been granted to supply the popular ‘Life Saver’ resources and Sue will be sending out information to coalitions on how to order these resources shortly.

However, Safekids are looking at other options and hope to be able to offer a series of car seat training days throughout the country. These day will be open to Kidsafe Week coalition members and volunteers who are interested in gaining more practical skills in this area. Sue will be sending out more details on these training days to coalition co-ordinators once the details have been finalised

Kidsafe Week Resources
– bigger and better than ever

In response to coalition feedback the Kidsafe Week resources this year are relying more on pictorial images and less on the written message, in order to get our key safety messages out.

The Safekids team have been working hard to ensure that the resources meet the needs of coalitions and the general public. We’re sure you’ll agree that the Kidsafe Week poster resource profiled below looks great.

Click here for larger poster

SAFEKIDS Worldwide The previous edition of Safekids News profiled SAFEKIDS Worldwide, a growing network of childhood injury control programmes around the world. Safekids has now joined SAFEKIDS Worldwide and looks forward to working with our international colleagues, networking and sharing ideas and expertise.

Moving towards safer playgrounds for our children

Come July we will have three new interim playground Standards, based on American Standards.

The committee responsible for drafting the document also considered Canadian and British Standards but decided to adopt the American ones because they meet all the key criteria with regards to child safety, and are also the most comprehensive and widely recognised Standards internationally.

Some changes to the American Standards will obviously be needed to meet our local conditions, environment and regulations. These changes will be made after the interim Standards have been out for public comment for one year. This should allow users to provide informed comment to Standards New Zealand on the changes that need to be made. When the SNZ committee has considered public comment, the interim Standards will be converted into a full New Zealand Standard.

Two features of the American Standards that especially appealed to the committee were they make good provision for children with disabilities and also cover the new “pay for play” or “soft contained” developments that are increasingly common here. Another feature that sold the Standards to the committee is that they come with a companion document a Handbook for Public Playground Safety, a very useful resource for lay users.

Housing New Zealand moves to improve the safety of its homes for younger occupants.

It’s pleasing to report that Housing New Zealand’s new acquisition design criteria now meet many of the Safekids recommendations included in the report Safe as Houses? (Safekids, 1996). These include smoke alarms, safer hot water delivery, fully-fenced play areas, and anti-tipping devices for stoves.

Readers may recall some recent press coverage on the issue of oven safety, the result of a child being scalded in a former state house in Whangarei. We met with Housing New Zealand recently to see what they were doing about oven safety and other issues in the Safe as Houses? report.

For its existing properties, Housing New Zealand has been installing stoves with anti-tipping devices, since mid 1999. In excess of 7,000 stoves have been installed with anti-tipping devices. Housing New Zealand is also currently developing a specification for an anti-tipping device, which will be used in retrospective situations which is very good news. This will allow Housing New Zealand’s operational staff to install a device where individual cases require. The final specification will ensure that the device is automatically engaged when the stove is returned to the wall.

Housing New Zealand is also addressing the safety of its younger tenants through a pilot programme in specific areas of South Auckland. The ‘healthy housing development’ programme is being implemented in conjunction with district health boards and other agencies, such as the New Zealand Institute of Architects. While the focus of the programme is to reduce overcrowding, and the spread of infectious diseases such as meningococcoal disease, HNZ will also work closely with healthcare workers to look at house design / tenant education that will reduce the number of injuries in the home and preventable hospitalisation of children. The programme is expected to last 18 months. We’ll be very interested in the outcomes of this programme.

NEWS FROM THE INJURY PREVENTION NETWORK (IPN) now have over 110 members. Members choose to register in either the Maori Caucus or the New Zealand Caucus with each electing the same number of representatives on to the IPN Committee. If you haven’t registered, please join up with us now! You get a reduced price for the conference (see below) as well as the other advantages of membership. There is a lot that is new at IPN! Some of this includes: Our new co ordinator Valerie Norton (see photo) has taken over from Pania Shingleton as the new Ne t w o rk Co-ordinator for IPN. We are very pleased to welcome Val to this role. She is happy to discuss any issues relating to the Network. We are hoping to have a regular Panui established soon for members. Ph: (04) 472 2562, Fax: (04) 472 2563, Mobile: 025 966 795 Email: network@ipn.org.nz Our website This should almost be up and running by the time this goes to print! Visit us at www.ipn.org.nz Our new office If you are in Wellington, call in to our very new office near Lambton Quay. It’s on the second floor of the Harbour City Building at 40 Panama Street. We share facilities with a range of other non-government agencies and can be found at Unit 7, the Betty Campbell Centre. Our postal address is PO Box 87, Wellington. What are we involved in? The Conference: 31 October - 2 November 2001 We expect child safety to be a major part of the conference called Weaving the Strands. It has a theme each day.These are: collaborating for safety co-ordinating for safety promoting a safety culture Send for details to: email: ipnconference@avenues.co.nz or Ph: (04) 473 8044, fax (04) 473 8042 Advocacy Now that we have got basic organisational issues behind us, we are preparing to work more strongly in this area. We intend to set up sector interest groups to work together on common concerns. The first interest group set up will be on Child Safety. It is hoped that the group will work with the IPN Committee to determine key advocacy actions. We hope all members interested in Child Safety will become involved. Training The first training is planned for Palmerston North in early August. Focused at a basic introductory level, it is hoped to include practitioners from all over the central and lower North Island. It will be a two day training package and participants will receive a resource kit. The theme will be “how to do injury prevention” and should suit participants who are working full time in the field or part-time as part of a wider public health role. We hope iwi workers, workers from Statutory and Community agencies and health promotion people will register. Part of the two days will be devoted to networking in local areas, so we hope that more experienced practitioners will also attend. We also hope to include a section for Maori practitioners to discuss particular issues for injury prevention practice in their communities. Contact Val for more details. For training in the South Island contact Jean Simpson at Injury Prevention Research Unit, ph: (03) 479 8338, fax: (03) 479 8337, email: jean.simpson@ipru.otago.ac.nz

KidsInfo Bulletin: Now available through email

Some recent NZ publications

KAPAI'S KEEPSAFE CHILDREN'S WATERWISE: BE A STAY ALIVE KIWI!
Author: Gadsby, Jon, Water Safety New Zealand Auckland, Random House New Zealand: 2001 This water safety guide, approved by Water Safety New Zealand, covers all the main rules for children who spend time near water. With jokes, humorous rhymes and colourful illustrations, this book makes learning about water safety fun and easy. Chapters include:

(1) Learn to swim
(2) Swimming pools
(3) Dangers at home
(4)Dangers around the farm
(5) At the beach
(6) Rivers and lakes
(7) Fishing

Reference # 4891

KICKBOARD FOLD-UP SCOOTERS SAFETY
Injury Prevention Research Centre (IPRC)-Te Pu Taki Whara Aukati Auckland, Injury Prevention Research Centre: 2001 A factsheet which looks at scooter injuries and provides some important safety advice.
Reference # 4867

NEW ZEALAND REGIONAL INJURY DATA: 1993-1997
Author: Stephenson, Shaun et al. Injury Prevention Research Unit, University of Otago Dunedin, Injury Prevention Research Unit: 2001

This document is intended for members of the public health and research communities and the general public, who have an interest in injury prevention at a regional level in New Zealand. Maps and tables provide details of the rates of injury for the major categories (regional injury rates, burns, falls, motor vehicle traffic crashes, assaults, suicides). Separate results are presented for three levels of severity; moderate, serious and fatal. Each set of maps and tables are broken down by regional council boundaries. Rates are for injuries per 100,000 population for the five years 1993-1997.
Reference # 4930

THE NEW ZEALAND 3AM HANDBOOK: THE MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S HEALTH
Author: Feldman, William, Starship Children's Hospital Auckland, Tandem Press: 2001

This book provides parents with general information about their children's health, based not just on opinion but on sound scientific evidence. This book covers extensively the troublesome aspects of 'normal' behaviours of children such as eating and sleeping problems. This edition was adapted for use in New Zealand by paediatricians at Starship Children's Hospital and staff from the Injury Prevention Research Centre and Safekids. There is a very useful chapter entitled "Safety at home and away" which looks at the question- 'how can I protect my child from injuries?' Topics covered include developmental factors, motor vehicle crashes and child restraints, pedestrian issues, bicycle safety and finally, as an appendix, there is a section entitled "Safety recommendations and checklists for selected products in New Zealand" This section provides information on standards, legislation and safety recommendations for some different products (i.e. cots, child restraints etc.). There is also a chapter on emergency first-aid. An extensive index and helpful listings of support and information groups round off this important and useful reference book.
Reference # 4851