An important part of capt's work is achieved through projects. They allow us to achieve our aim of reducing the numbers of children killed or seriously injured in accidents by:
The funding for capt's projects comes from a variety of sources, including grants from government departments and charitable trusts, and commercial sponsorship of initiatives such as Child Safety Week.
This page provides a gateway to the projects that capt is currently undertaking and that have been recently completed. Although the funding for a project may have ceased, the lessons learnt and the resources created often have a life long after the formal end of the work. For example, they become part of the training that capt provides or add to the extensive list of resources that capt publishes. For information about projects that have been recently completed, click here.
Follow the links to find out more about each of our current projects.
| Child Safety Week 2006 |
| Neighbourhood Road Safety Initiative |
| Pictorial resources project |
| Advocacy for road safety |
| Bathwater scald prevention research |
| Child safety action plans |
Child Safety Week is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s flagship community education campaign, raising awareness of serious childhood accidents and how to prevent them. It generates media coverage for practical child safety advice and – by providing free resources to community-based organisations – acts as a catalyst for thousands of local safety activities and events, which reach millions of children and families UK-wide. In 2006, Child Safety Week ran from 19 to 25 June. The highlights of the formal evaluation of the Week’s impact were as follows:
Independent polling of a sample of parents revealed that Child Safety Week had the highest recall levels of awareness events held in June.
The highest awareness levels of Child Safety Week and its safety messages were found among parents in social class DE, whose children are far more likely to be killed or seriously injured in preventable accidents.
Almost half (44%) of the sample of parents reported that they had taken action to improve child safety as a result of Child Safety Week. The top five reported actions were:
driving more slowly in built-up areas
checking that the smoke alarms were working
purchasing a smoke alarm
moving medicines or household chemicals out of children’s reach
speaking to their child about the consequences of taking risks.
Both parents and children reported that they had learnt something new about safety:
“It made me more aware of the dangerous hazards that are around my home – made me more aware to keep my child safe”. Deborah, Mother, Portsmouth
“It got my brain thinking and told me what to do if there’s a real fire”. Paul, aged 10, Clackmannanshire
Many frontline staff reported that Child Safety Week had influenced the behaviour of children or their parents
“A boy I look after has got his parents to buy a smoke alarm and it is his job to test it”. Childminder, Solihull, Warwickshire
“Our children are now are aware they have to hold hands and stay away from the roads/tractors. Their parents are aware they need to slow down in the nursery car park. Children now wait at the nursery gate for their carers, they are aware that it is dangerous to run off”. Nursery Manager, Beverley, Hull
“Parents have told me that they have put cupboard locks on cupboards containing cleaning material. One family has filled in their pond in the garden. Lots of parents are now taking early steps to teach their children road safety”. Community Nursery Nurse, Hereford
Many poorer parents were also motivated to request free safety checks or equipment:
“Several families signed up to have their homes assessed by the fire service, for the installation of free smoke alarms. Several families signed up for a Sure Start home safety audit, for free stair gates, fire guards, etc. Several parents discussed car seat safety and asked for a free car seat check”. Sure Start Health Visitor, Lowestoft, Suffolk
Almost 250,000 printed resources were distributed in the run-up to and during Child Safety Week, including posters, leaflets and ideas booklets. These were supplemented by over 30,000 downloads of ideas booklets, fact sheets, quizzes and competitions.
The resources were very well received by frontline staff working with children and parents, with 88% stating they would continue to use them over the coming year:
“The quizzes and puzzles proved very popular and I found them both entertaining and informative. The fact sheets were particularly useful as they did not patronise people but gave clear facts and guidelines to safety”. Children’s Information Service Assistant, Shrewsbury
70% of frontline staff receiving the resources organised Child Safety Week activities, reaching an average of 268 people. If indicative of all staff organising activities, this would represent face-to-face work with over 4 million people UK-wide – over 2.5 million parents and grandparents, and over 1.5 million children and young people.
Almost three-quarters of those organising Child Safety Week activities (73%) did so in partnership with other agencies. The vast majority (93%) who worked with other agencies expected their partnership work to continue beyond Child Safety Week.
Media coverage for Child Safety Week 2006 and its safety messages was secured on national and regional television, digital and local radio, in national, regional and local consumer magazines, in the regional and local press, in online media and in the professional press. The total media reach/circulation was almost 35 million.
Overall, comments from frontline staff on the Week were overwhelmingly positive:
“Everything is amazing, the work you put in to deliver the information to us to enable us to promote safety. The resources are excellent and you are on hand to help us if we need it. Don’t let it stop there”. Home Safety Administrator, Solihull, Warwickshire
Capt has three roles in this Department for Transport initiative, which is designed to reduce road casualties in disadvantaged areas and operates in 15 local authorities in England.
First, we are part of the consortium evaluating the initiative. The evaluation programme is led by Heather Ward of the Centre for Transport Studies at University College London. The evaluation team comprises researchers from the Universities of Surrey, Swansea and the West of England. Rob Wheway, capt's play safety consultant, is advising on the effect of interventions on children’s play. The evaluation runs until 2008, although the funding for the local authorities ends in March 2006.
In addition, we are providing structured support to the 15 local authorities involved in the programme – to help them develop their plans, gain a better understanding of the impact of disadvantage on road accidents, and generally help them move their work forward.
The third part of our involvement has been the facilitation of a series of workshops with a variety of stakeholders in the NRSI - road safety professionals, managers, members of the communities involved in local projects, specialists involved in producing NRSI resources, etc - to capture the key lessons from the initiative. The output from this exercise will be a Department for Transport publication.
A grant from the Department for Transport's Road Safety Challenge Fund is enabling capt to develop, test and disseminate a simple tool to allow highways staff in local councils to measure the effect of road safety interventions on children's activities, especially their play.
One in six adults has the reading age of a primary school age child or less. There are strong links between poor literacy and deprivation - one third of adults in low-paid jobs have poor literacy, rising to almost half of adults from some black and minority ethnic communities.
Adults with poor literacy can read but they struggle to do so. They cannot scan text to grasp meaning but must read word by word. As reading is challenging and time-consuming, they often give up when faced with written information. For such readers, high levels of illustration, combined with short sentences written in spoken English, bring the meaning to life.
Children from deprived families are at far greater risk of death and serious injury from accidents. Parents of these children are therefore a priority audience for safety messages. Yet the vast majority of safety resources assume good parental literacy.
This two-year project, which began in 2004 with funding from the Department of Health and additional support from the Sure Start Unit, is enabling capt to develop innovative picture-based accident prevention resources for parents with low literacy.
The project began with detailed research and consultation. We:
In April 2005, capt launched the first booklet in the series. In I’m only a baby but …, a baby introduces the accidents that babies are most likely to be hurt in and explains what parents need to do to keep their baby safe. Colourful illustrations bring the baby’s advice to life. Click here for further information about this publication.
In the 12 months since its launch, we have distributed 100,000 copies of the booklet to organisations working at a community level with families and there has been very positive feedback from frontline staff.
In March 2006, capt launched the second booklet in the series, Now I can crawl I can .... This introduces the changing hazards facing babies once they can crawl and stand. Once again, the simple precautions a parent should take are set in appealing pictures and accompanied by accessible language. Click here for further information about this publication.
In April 2006, in association with the Department for Transport, we launched It's fun to go out but ..., a picture-based booklet on road safety for parents of children up to age 8. For free copies of this booklet, call the Free Literature Service on 0870 1226 236 and quote reference number T/INF 1107.
Working with four universities (Swansea, Nottingham, Surrey and West of England), capt is testing the premise that giving detailed, local information to councillors will lead to improvements in road safety. We are involved in developing and distributing the local information.
The wards that the councillors represent have been selected because of their high casualty rates for vulnerable road users and their levels of deprivation. The three-year project, which is funded by the Department of Health, is part of a collaborative research programme being undertaken by the Miskin Group.
Following capt's work on the promotion of thermostatic mixing valves to reduce bathwater scalds and its advocacy for changes in building regulations, we are now involved in a research project led by Dr Denise Kendrick of the University of Nottingham to examine the long-term effect of thermostatic mixing valves in social housing. Valves are being installed in properties owned by Glasgow Housing Association. The project, which is funded by the Department of Health, is part of a collaborative research programme being undertaken by the Miskin Group.
This two-year project represents the UK element of a European Child Safety Alliance (ECSA) EU-funded project to develop child safety action plans. Capt projects director, Mike Hayes, working closely with RoSPA Scotland, has been commissioned to prepare an action plan for Scotland through a consultative process involving decision-makers and practitioners.
In Scotland, a Child Safety Strategy has been produced in support of the Child Safety Action Plan for Europe. The Child Safety Strategy creates a framework for action with a list of recommendations aimed at developing a strategic approach to preventing unintentional injuries to children and young people in Scotland. Development of the plan was led by RoSPA Scotland and the Child Accident Prevention Trust in consultation with key agencies and departments of the Scottish Government, and also in consultation with children directly. Amongst the recommendations put forward are that a plan of action should be developed for Scotland, setting out the priority injury issues, suggesting injury prevention programmes, identifying clear lines of responsibility locally and nationally, recommending performance indicators and advising on research needs. In addition to funding from ECSA, additional support is being provided by NHS Health Scotland, Greater Glasgow NHS and the Scottish Government. The action plan was published in December 2007.
Work is in progress to develop a similar plan for Wales, in conjunction with Child Safe Wales - Diogelu Plant Cymru and Children in Wales - Plant yng Nghymru.