Child Safety Week began on Monday, organised by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT).  This annual campaign sets out to raise awareness of the accidents that seriously injure children, and (as we do best!) how to prevent them.

Thousands of children each year are left with injuries that take years to recover from. The long-term psychological impact on children, and their families and friends, can last a lifetime, as can the scars.

The precautions that keep children safe from serious accidents are the small steps taken every single day by parents, grandparents, nurseries and carers, something we here at Fingershield have been passionate about for over 15 years. So we're fully supporting this years Child Safety Week 2012: Small Steps to Safety

The key messages for Child Safety Week are:

• The steps to safety are small but by taking these steps families can make a big difference to children’s safety.

• By building small steps to safety into your everyday routine, safety habits will become second nature and won’t easily be forgotten.

Encouraging families you work with to take small steps to safety every day means that you can help reduce the chances of their children being needlessly disabled or seriously injured as a result of preventable accidents.

The aim of Child Safety Week is to secure a safer environment for children of all ages, so they can live life to the fullest without unnecessary hazards. It’s not about stifling children’s freedom to develop and explore or wrapping them up in cotton wool.  It’s about empowering parents to make small steps to safety part of their everyday routine, so that they see safety as something they can fit into their busy lives. We want to help them do more of what they do right when it comes to safety, not tell them what they are doing wrong.

What people say about Child Safety Week

Children’s Centre Manager, Stockton-on-Tees

“Child Safety Week is a great way of engaging new families – everyone needs advice from the moment their baby is born about child safety.”

Childminder, Dunbar

“It highlights the everyday things we all take for granted that can pose danger or risk if we don’t take that second look!”

Family Support Worker, Doncaster

“As busy as everyone is, Child Safety Week highlights the importance of child safety just in time for the summer holidays when parents and carers need to think about safety in the home as well as when they are out and about.”

 Paul O’Carroll, Director, Fingershield, UK

“We are passionate about ensuring the safety of children, whether it be around the home or whilst out and about. There are so many simple solutions available to prevent those everyday accidents that occur and it’s our mission to raise awareness towards these products. There are those who say that we live in a cotton wool society and the best way for children to learn is for them to experience what they call “everyday accidents. I don’t subscribe to this train of thought as surely “prevention is better than cure?”.

It’s for this reason that we are offering our support to theme of this year’s Child Safety Week which is “small steps to safety” . We agree that through a process of education and preventative measures, the accidents that are the second biggest killer of children in the UK and which injure thousands more can be substantially reduced and therefore provide our children with safer environments to live and play within.

We’re onboard, are you?