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Grampian Safe Team - how it works
So why is an event like Grampian Safe Team needed? Well, each year more children die from accidental injury than from illnesses such as leukaemia or meningitis. Unintentional injury is one of the main causes of death in children and is the most common cause of child emergency hospital admissions. Children between the ages of 11 and 16 are more likely to be involved in road accidents than any other age group and Aberdeen city has the worst accidental injury rate for children under 5 in the whole of Scotland. And for every child who dies of an injury many more are left living with varying degrees and durations of disability from broken bones, cuts, bruises and scars to burns, blindness or spinal injury. But, we don’t want to wrap children up in cotton wool. We
fully understand that experiencing some degree of risk is an important part of learning and that children learn how to manage
risks in everyday life – a bit like learning about how to carry out risk assessments in the workplace.
So how does Safe Team work? Well, the children visit a series of specially adapted portakabins,
each containing a different ‘set’ with activities relating to a specific safety issue. The experiential aspect of the event increases the impact of the learning and engages the children in an exciting way making Safe Team fun and the lessons very easy to absorb and retain. There are usually around 8 or 9 sets with each one lasting about 9 minutes. The sets include a construction site, a live electricity sub station, a school bus, internet safety, a railway, countryside safety, road safety, stranger danger, fire safety and sets dealing with anti social behaviour and drugs and alcohol awareness and domestic abuse. Each one is delivered by professionals in their field. Safe Team is now in its 19th year.
It is the only event of its kind in the North East and manages to reach over 2000 primary 7 children each year.
However, because it only runs for 2 weeks it can only invite a third of the primary 7 children in Grampian annually.
So two thirds of our children miss out on this vital safety education. Aberdeen Safer Community Trust’s ultimate goal is to create a permanent centre – Risk Ready - so that events like Safe Team can run all year round, not just to accommodate all primary 7 pupils in the area, but all age groups and to cover a much wider range of safety issues and social issues – taking the health and safety message beyond the workplace and into everyday life. To find out how to book your place at Safe Team 2012, how to get involved with the Trust and how to help us build Risk Ready – contact us on 01224 646461, email development@absafe.org.uk |
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