Local Charity Family Nursing and Home Care hosts Safety in Action event for Jersey school children

Monday 10 - Wednesday 19 July 2023

Family Nursing & Home Care (FNHC) provides expert education around Child Accident Prevention (CAP) with the aim of reducing the incidence and impact of accidental injuries to children aged 0-16 in the community. Our CAP coordinator facilitates and delivers education programmes focused on child safety and accident prevention using local knowledge, expertise and shared resources.

Every year CAP hosts the annual Safety in Action event where Year 5 students from schools across the island participate in interactive workshops and learn important and practical information on safety. A right of passage for all children in Jersey, the event supports awareness of risks and therefore prevents accidents in the home.

Between the 10th and 19th July, this year’s event will feature safety briefings from our partners States of Jersey Police, States of Jersey Ambulance Service, States of Jersey Fire Service, St. John Ambulance Service, Jersey Electricity and Bosdet and will take place at Highlands College.

CAP uses data to identify ways in which they can support young people in their understanding of how to prevent accidents. They collect this data from the Jersey Emergency Department (ED) which categorises accident data on children under the age of 13 years who have attended the department. During 2022:

• 52 children under the age of 13 attended ED because of a burn or scald. These burns were caused by a variety of mechanisms including hot drinks, hot food, kitchen appliances, hair straighteners and irons, fireplaces, sunburn and barbeques.
• 19 children under the age of 13 years attended ED because of a dog bite.
• 67 children attended ED because of contact with a potentially harmful substance. These substances included sun cream, hand sanitiser, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent and medication amongst others.

This data allows CAP to support children in learning how to react and behave in the event of an accident or emergency such as fire in the home and this is why CAP runs Safety In Action week. CAP is part of Family Nursing and Home Care and works with the charity’s Paediatric Care Workers, Health Visitor and School Nurses. Other partners involved with CAP are:

• Health and Social Services (Accident and Emergency Department, Paramedics, Community Paediatrics)
• Home Affairs (Fire and Rescue, Police and Road Safety)
• Children, Young People, Education & Skills (CYPES)
• Jersey Child Care Trust
• Trading Standards Service
• Housing
• The St John Ambulance Service
• Bosdet Foundation

Our success lies in our high degree of commitment to child accident prevention and the safety in action programme supports children in their understanding of how to behave in the event of an accident.