WIREDGOV

A warning has been issued over the alarming rise in the number of serious accidents happening in the home and at leisure, as part of RoSPA’s latest Annual Review.

Chief executive Errol Taylor speaks of the “relentless and largely unnoticed” increase in accidents in these environments, in the RoSPA Annual Review 2016/17 – RoSPA’s centenary year – which was published on Tuesday.

He says that this has happened while scientific, evidence-based approaches to accident prevention have seen huge strides made in the arenas of road and workplace safety, and would like to see the same approaches taken to address other areas of concern.

RoSPA, in partnership with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has helped the NHS to adopt the Emergency Care Data Set, which it is hoped will provide a better understanding of the causes of injuries to people attending A&E departments.

Errol also points to RoSPA’s development of a National Accident Prevention Strategy, which is being compiled with a number of influential organisations with an interest in reducing accident rates.

He said: “Such a strategy will set out bold targets for reducing the burden of accidental injury, together with tried and tested recommendations on how these improvements might be achieved.”

RoSPA’s Annual Review 2016/17 describes the charity’s work towards its vision of life, free from serious accidental injury. Among the highlights was a 50 per cent reduction in the number of children attending A&E due to poisoning in three Take Action Todayareas, while more than 100 delegates were certified in the International Diploma in Advanced Driving Instruction. There were 3.4million views of RoSPA’s main website (www.rospa.com), plus an additional 2.4million views of RoSPA’s dedicated child car seats website (www.childcarseats.org.uk).

The RoSPA Annual Review 2016/17 is available at www.rospa.com/annualreview/ 

For photographs and other requests email: pressoffice@rospa.com or call 0121 248 2135.