CAPT urges participation in Child Safety Week

Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) is calling on everyone who works with children or families to help get important safety information to them during Child Safety Week in June.

CAPT is a national charity committed to reducing the number of children and young people killed, disabled and seriously injured as a result of accidents.

According to CAPT over the next 12 months around 350 children will be killed in accidents and around two million will be rushed to A&E as a result of accidental injuries. Children from the poorest families are particularly vulnerable - for example, they are 16 times more likely to be killed in a house fire and five times more likely to be killed on the roads.

"Child Safety Week provides a special focus for getting safety messages to parents and children," explained the Trust’s chief executive, Katrina Phillips. "We support local Child Safety Week activities with free and subsidised resources along with media relations to maximise publicity."

This year, the Week’s theme is Check it, don’t chance it! and the message to parents and carers is - quick, simple checks can prevent many childhood accidents.

There is a free, photocopiable ideas booklet designed to act as a launch pad for local activities. Organised around five key accident areas, it contains facts, practical activity ideas and details of useful resources and contacts, including interactive websites.

The booklet also contains quizzes designed to test the safety knowledge of parents, children and young people, and to make learning about safety fun.

Each pack includes one free Child Safety Week poster to prompt discussions about safety and encourage parents and children to find out more.

Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, CAPT will be offering many of its safety resources at discounted prices in the run-up to Child Safety Week. These include colourful and informative safety advice leaflets for parents and sheets of bright coloured stickers to hand out to children and parents at events.

To obtain a copy of the ideas booklet and poster and an order form for discounted resources, send an A4 stamped addressed envelope (75p) to CSW Resource Pack, Child Accident Prevention Trust, 18-20 Farringdon Lane, London EC1R 3HA. Alternatively, the booklet can be downloaded from the Child Safety Week page of the Trust’s website www.capt.org.uk or ring 020 7689 4535.