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Schools Awareness Campaign
1st January 2007
The Council has been very busy over the past few months undertaking research into what electrical safety information, initiatives and activities are currently on offer to school children.
Although it appears that delivery of electrical safety messages to children across the UK is patchy, we are pleased to be able to report that there are a number of very good initiatives going on.
We have made approaches to all of the organizations conducting these initiatives. Where appropriate, we intend to get involved to support their causes and to help spread good practices to other organizations and consumer bodies, so that all children in the UK have access to good electrical safety guidance and information.
A brief overview of some of the existing initiatives is provided below to give you a flavour for the type of activities that are already available:
Learning About Safety by Experiencing Risk (LASER), and Crucial Crew
These are powerful, interactive approaches to safety education. Interactive safety education schemes provide opportunities for school children and other members of the community to learn about safety and the prevention of unintentional injury in realistic settings.
The schemes focus primarily on home, travel, leisure and personal safety, and are generally supported by community services, such as the local police, fire and rescue services, etc.
Participants are able to learn how to deal with potential accident hazards by working in small groups in a controlled and supervised environment.
If you are interested in finding out about the centres and events in your area, details can be found on www.lasersafety.org.uk.
The Council is pleased to report that it has accepted an invitation to sit on the LASER Forum Committee to support this cause, and to look into ways that it can get involved to best support the Forum’s activities in relation to electrical safety.
Energy Networks Association (ENA) Public Safety Taskforce Committee
ENA is a trade association for a number of the major energy supply companies in the UK. It coordinates a Public Safety Taskforce Committee whose remit is to promote electrical safety amongst the public.
It does this in a range of ways, including providing educational visits to schools, attending community events up and down the country, providing winter packs to the elderly, and publishing educational websites and public safety literature.
In January, we gave a presentation to the ENA Public Safety Taskforce Committee. We are now exploring ways in which we can work jointly with members of this group to promote electrical safety in a coordinated way UK-wide.
To find out more about the electrical safety educational work of the ENA and its members, visit the education section of their website: www.energynetworks.org.uk
Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT)
CAPT is a national charity committed to reducing the number of children and young people who are killed, disabled or seriously injured as a result of accidents.
CAPT arranges sponsorship of an annual Child Safety Week, which this year will be 18-24 June. Every year during Child Safety Week, thousands of community-based activities and events are held across the UK to promote child safety.
We are currently in discussions with CAPT to explore ways in which we can support this cause in respect of electrical safety. To find out more about CAPT, visit: www.capt.org.uk
In addition to the collaborative work outlined above, the Council has recently delivered Phase I of a project to deliver a web-based interactive house, aimed at children between the ages of 5 and 10.
The interactive house is an age-appropriate way for children to explore the electrical dangers that are lurking in the home, and provides information on how to avoid them.
