Buy Wise Be Safe

Each year in England approximately 60 children and young people die, 450,000 attend accident and emergency and 40,000 are admitted to hospital as an emergency (PHE report 2014 – Reducing unintentional injuries in and around the home among children under 5 years).

Buy Wise Be Safe (BWBS) aims to make an impact on injury reduction and prevention by providing clear advice to practitioners, carers and parents on what practicable steps can be taken in the home and elsewhere to ensure child safety. It focuses on what to look out for when buying of safety equipment, both new and second hand.

Developed by Trading Standards South West and originally released in 2005, the Buy Wise Be Safe project targeted just babies and toddlers, and was delivered extensively across the South West through a range of partners – initially using a video pack via Sure Start centres.

To enable the team behind Buy Wise Be Safe to bring this project into the 21st century, the product is now delivered via the Internet using interactive technology. The new website is segmented into five age brackets (babies, crawlers, toddlers, running free and school children), so parents can select the information that is relevant to them.

The site provides a number of factsheets and also hosts interactive exercises to engage and educate users. It will also be extensively promoted via social media, both as a means to evaluate the effectiveness of the product and to gather new information.

The website will also focus on the top five unintentional injuries among the under 5s as defined in the PHE report 2014, namely: Falls; Burns and Scalds; Choking; Suffocation and Strangulation; Poisoning; and Drowning – as well as advice on Strikes, Crushes and Jams which is a common injury in this age group.

Guides and advice on the purchase of new and second-hand equipment, and buying over the internet, also feature.

Buy Wise Be Safe social media accounts, on Facebook and Twitter, are also available to access and provide guidance on the go for parents and carers of children in the age bracket – as well as a fully functional smart phone website.