Safety and the role it plays in your life depends on many things, including your attitude.
All of us need to learn how to protect ourselves and family members from the potential injury hazards that can strike at any given time. We all need to be reminded to be responsible, to think, and to make time for safety!
Parents and caregivers work hard to prepare children for the future. But if they don’t teach children how to avoid preventable injuries, their future may never happen.
Children can learn to be safe. And sparking an interest in safety early on in a child’s life can lead to a life-long appreciation for injury prevention–and how it affects our daily lives.
You owe it to yourself and family to work and play safely. Every time a family member is injured or killed by something that could have been prevented, everyone suffers–children, parents, friends, and entire communities.
Hospitals in Canada have reported an increase in unintentional injuries (injuries that could have been prevented). In fact, a national report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information found 90 percent of injuries are preventable!
The general public, in the past, has exhibited concern towards problems such as violence, drugs, and diseases. But these are not the number-one health risk to Canadians. The number-one health risk is unintentional injuries!
These include injuries caused by fire and burns; bike, traffic, and pedestrian injuries; drowning and other water injuries; firearm injuries; fall injuries; poisonings; and choking, suffocation, and strangulation injuries.
These types of injuries are not random accidents; they are predictable, and with proper education, largely preventable.
Injury prevention programs seem to have no advertisement at all. Rarely do you see a safety tip on television, in the newspaper, or hear one on the radio. Yet the injury problems that plague Canadians will continue unless something is done.
Public education and promotion is the only effective way!
The new Risk Watch Curriculum, a school-based educational curriculum for children in pre-school through grade eight, is aimed at the major risk areas that affect school-age children.
It is now in Canada, and fire safety educators are looking at it. Stay tuned!
Remember: If you never need what you learn about personal safety, you have lost nothing. If you never learn what you need, you may lose everything–your family and your life!
