Achievements & Performance : In the Home
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| The Society has attracted funding and established a forum to investigate setting up a new UK HASS/LASS database. |
Working to Improve Data Collection
RoSPA has been working to overcome problems caused by the lack of data for home and leisure accidents since the scrapping of the DTI’s Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System (HASS/LASS). Although RoSPA continues to administer the old database, there have been no fresh statistics since 2002. But now the Society has attracted funding and established a forum to investigate setting up a new UK HASS/LASS database, vital for targeting best use of Home Safety resources.
Funding was secured for a new website for Northern Ireland to provide all home safety officers or volunteers carrying out home safety checks with a place to record their information for future analysis.
The Audit Commission and Healthcare Commission’s report “Better Safe Than Sorry” recognised RoSPA’s role in informing and co-ordinating child injury prevention and the need for up-to-date data. The report highlighted projects involving RoSPA as examples of best practice.
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| Safety features need to be considered when building new homes. |
Creating Partnerships
In line with the Society’s mission statement to save lives and reduce injuries, partnerships that can produce tangible results have been developed with grassroots and community groups. Following successful initiatives in Northern Ireland, RoSPA is creating and supporting forums that can develop Home Safety strategies throughout the UK. The Society has also been involved in formulating an injury-prevention strategy for Nottinghamshire – death rates in the East Midlands are unusually high and have been recognised as a public health priority.
Safety in the Built Environment
The Dundee Safer Homes Project signalled more progress on RoSPA’s key issue of Safety in the Built Environment. The Society has identified simple, low-cost accident prevention measures which can be introduced at the design and build stage of new homes or when properties are being refurbished. As a result of a partnership with Stewart Milne Homes, Dundee Community Safety Partnership, the Scottish Accident Prevention Council and RoSPA, a show house was opened featuring a host of home safety and security features. This has raised awareness among the public and builders.
Hoping to reduce the high number of people severely injured by scalds each year, the Society continued its campaign for thermostatic mixing valves to be fitted in all new and refurbished bathrooms. Scotland has already agreed to the idea, and Northern Ireland, where RoSPA ran a seminar to highlight the issue, is now considering following suit. It is hoped a Government consultation will lead to similar measures in England and Wales.
RoSPA presented a poster on improving Safety in the Built Environment at the first European Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in Vienna.
Deaths resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning received widespread publicity during the year. RoSPA called for healthcare professionals to be given more information about the “silent killer” as it fears many doctors and health workers miss symptoms that point to CO poisoning.
Training
A review has been carried out of RoSPA’s portfolio of home safety training courses. The Society is working with other stakeholders to develop new courses and resources to meet the needs of a variety of audiences.
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| Philip Le Shirley RoSPA’s new Product Safety Adviser |
Assistance was given to the Whoops! Child Safety Project in Gateshead to train young mothers about burns and scalds. In Northumberland, RoSPA delivered a falls-prevention training package for 3,000 staff and elderly people. Early indications show a reduction in people going to hospital after falls, and it is hoped this scheme can be replicated in other parts of the country. Other successes have included training staff at Sure Start children’s centres in the west of England.
Products
RoSPA’s new Product Safety Adviser, Philip Le Shirley, was heavily involved in the national review aimed at improving domestic gas safety. Its recommendations will have wide-ranging effects on the industry, and include a new specification for the gas installer registration scheme. Bids have been invited to run it.
New working relationships have been established with the Electrical Safety Council and the British Standards Institution. The Product Safety Adviser is working with the BSI committee looking at the safety of pen caps after a 13-year-old boy choked to death on one.
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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