RoSPA Press Office : Press Releases : Home Safety

Changing fashions and the latest crazes lead to more accidents, a new report detailing how people in the UK hurt themselves at home and at leisure reveals today. In a bid to solve the problem, RoSPA believes manufacturers planning new products need to design with safety in mind and to provide better safety information.
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RoSPA is using drama in schools to tackle the main causes of fire in Northern Ireland homes. Flaming Fables, a powerful and punchy play for 8 – 11 year olds, is staged by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, HAP (Home Accident Prevention) NI and Replay Productions. Full Story»

Government proposals announced today to reduce scaldings by controlling bath water temperature, support RoSPA’s 10-point safety plan for new homes. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to consult on bringing water temperature safety within the scope of building regulations, because each year more than 430 under-fives are seriously injured in scalding accidents in hot baths. Full Story»

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is to take over the provision of UK home and leisure accident statistics from the Department of Trade and Industry in the New Year. New statistics are no longer being collected, but RoSPA has been given a copy of the DTI’s Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System database from 1978 to 2002. Full Story»

Christmas trees, lights, trimmings and turkeys will be among the things turning seasonal merrymaking into misery and mayhem for thousands of families over the holiday period. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents predicts that around 80,000 people will go to hospital over the Christmas and New Year break as a result of an accident at home. But with a little more care most of those accidents need never happen and celebrations have no need to turn sour. Full Story»

Success stories that have helped to combat the UK’s biggest accident problem will be shared at RoSPA’s national home safety congress next week. The conference, Reducing Home Accidents – What Works?, will be held at the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, on Monday and Tuesday (November 10 and 11). It is sponsored by Lloyds Pharmacy. Full Story»

Cowboy traders, irresponsible shopkeepers and foolish parents could cause fireworks to be banned from sale to the public and ruin Bonfire Night fun for thousands of people, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents warned today. Dealers in rogue fireworks, those who sell to people under-18 or give them to children reinforce the argument for a clampdown on firework sales, the Society said as the UK prepared for the biggest bonfire weekend of the year. Full Story»

The countdown has begun to Northern Ireland’s Halloween celebrations - and people planning firework parties are urged to visit RoSPA’s new website www.saferfireworks.com as soon as possible. The site has a “ready..steady…go!” section advising people about what action they need to take as each week passes on the way to the big night. Full Story»

RoSPA is calling on architects and developers to eradicate accident “blackspots” around the home by designing properties with safety in mind. The Society believes that a list of ten simple safety measures - included at the construction stage and costing only £900 - would have a colossal payback in terms of accident prevention. Home accidents cost the National Health Service £7billion a year, but RoSPA believes this could be drastically reduced if designers paid more attention to safety when planning new projects or refurbishing properties. Full Story»

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents today launched a new website - www.saferfireworks.com - aimed at reducing the number of firework injuries in Northern Ireland. Last year, 38 people were injured by fireworks in the province, over the Halloween period. Nearly 75 per cent of these were males, and most were under 20 years old. Full Story»

A roadshow aimed at reducing the number of injuries and deaths caused by faulty and misused electric blankets will be touring Northern Ireland in September. Organised by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, its main target will be elderly people, some of whom use electric blankets as a cheap source of heating. Electric blankets cause between 800 and 1,000 fires in the UK each year, with nearly 20 deaths and 200 injuries. Most of the causalities are over 60. The roadshow will provide free safety checks on electric blankets and give tips on their correct use. Full Story»