Injury Prevention articles from December 2001

Injury Prevention archives from December 2001

Preventing terrorist attacks.(Editorial)
December 1, 2001... One of the many drawbacks of quarterly journals is that material is often not timely. Tragically, the events in the US have an eerie, timeless quality. As I write this editorial, the terrorist attacks are only a week old. No one needs a...

In this issue: the editor's two cents.
December 1, 2001... As a multidisciplinary journal we believe it important to document the dimensions of a problem from the perspective of colleagues in other disciplines. In the Special Feature (p 272) in this issue, Chamberlain and Solomon, both lawyers, set to...

Groundless attack on an uncommon man: William Haddon, Jr, MD. (Guest editorial).(traffic safety)(Editorial)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... In the 11 June 2001 issue of The New Yorker magazine, a lengthy article (titled "Wrong Turn: How the fight to make America's highways safer went off course") by Malcolm Gladwell, a regular contributor to the magazine, distorts the history of...

Awards to injury prevention editor. (News and notes).(Barry Pless)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... 2001 has been a very successful year for Injury Prevention editor, Barry Pless. He was honoured by the Canadian Paediatric Society for his "excellence of achievement in the field of paediatrie research, education, child health care and child...

People in the news. (News and notes).(government appointments)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... In the last issue of Injury Prevention we reported that Dr Jeffrey W Runge had been nominated for the post of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator. The appointment has now been confirmed by the US Senate. Dr...

Injury surveillance for major events: the Sydney Olympic Games. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Olympic Games brought 11 300 athletes, 5100 officials, and visitors from 200 countries to Sydney in October 2000. An estimated 400 000 people a day visited the major sports precinct and crowds estimated at 1 000 000 gathered in the city...

Goal deaths in Portugal. (News and notes).(children's accidents with moveable soccer goals)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... ANEC, the European body that coordinates consumer representation on standards committees has asked the European Commission to set standards for moveable soccer goals. This follows the revelation from APSI, the Portuguese child safety...

Testing playground surfaces in winter. (Notes and news).(Manitoba)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Winter conditions in Manitoba are very different from those in summer. So in February and March 2001 IMPACT, the injury prevention centre of the Children's Hospital, Winnipeg, tested the impact performance of 10 sites where tests in summer...

ICPSTC conference highlights. (News and notes).(International Child Passenger Safety Technical Conference)(adapted from Safe Ride News)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Over 900 people attended the four day conference in Indianapolis, Indiana in June 2001. Over 10% attended with scholarship assistance. The conference included about 70 separate workshop topics in addition to general sessions and exhibits. Three...

Drive-over injuries project. (News and notes).(New Zealand)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Auckland's Starship Hospital and New Zealand's Safekids programme are collaborating to address the unacceptably high number of young children killed by vehicles off the road. Between 1986 and 1995, at least 40 children under 5 years died in...

NHTSA survey shows airbag cut off switches not being used properly. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... A study of vehicles equipped by the manufacturer with airbag cut off switches has revealed widespread misuse endangering nearly half the front seat child passengers under 13, the US Department of Transportation's NHTSA reported in August, Even...

Increased fines for drunk drivers in Taiwan. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... To solve the problem of alcohol impaired driving on motor vehicle injuries, the legislature of Taiwan passed 55 amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law in January that took effect in June. The amendments impose more severe...

Fisher-price quits restraint business. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Fisher-Price has stopped production on all of its child restraints. Retailers and the US buying public did not support the company's niche, according to a company spokesperson. Fisher-Price had positioned itself as an upper-middle price range...

Pedestrians Association renamed. (New and notes).(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... For the past 72 years, the Pedestrians Association has campaigned for better facilities and improved safety for pedestrians in the UK. It has met with significant successes including the driving test and the 30 mph speed limit. Now it feels...

Greater government role in car safety sought by Americans. (News and notes).(Brief Article)(Panel Discussion)
December 1, 2001... The results of a recent poll, published in the Transportation Journal, showed an increasing tolerance for US government intervention in auto safety as well as for stiffer fines and sentences for those who break existing rules. The authors, Lieb...

Future burden of falls prompts development of prevention policy. (News and notes).(New South Wales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... A recent analysis in the state of New South Wales, conservatively predicted the impact of demographic changes on bed day resources required to treat falls among older persons over the next 50 years will equate to 800 additional hospital beds...

Home is where the heartache is. (News and notes).(Home Accident Surveillance System Report, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... More people are killed in the home every week than die in road accidents, according to new figures published in the UK Department of Trade and Industry's annual Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS) Report. The figures show 76 people are...

Multiuse strollers recalled. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... In June, US nursery goods company Century Products voluntarily recalled about 650 000 strollers, in collaboration with the CPSC. The strollers can unexpectedly collapse or the car seat/carrier adapter can unexpectedly detach. When this happens,...

Toy and play safety audit at Birmingham children's hospital. (News and notes).(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... As part of its contribution to the UK's Child Safety Week activities, organised annually by the Child Accident Prevention Trust, staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital conducted a check on the safety of toys and play facilities within the...

$900 000 civil penalty for delay in reporting cedar chest fatalities. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Virginia company Lane has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $900 000 settling CPSC allegations that it failed to report in a timely manner that children could become trapped in two of its cedar chests made between 1912 and 1987. The lids on...

World Bank initiative criticised. (News and notes).(traffic and pedestrian safety)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Eminent safety advocates Brian O'Neill from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Dinesh Mohan from Delhi's Indian Institute of Technology, supported by other well known safety experts, have written a highly critical and heavily...

Education by exam? (News and notes).(traffic safety education)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Does an examination seem like an unusual place to learn about injury? The external examination for Victorian high school students occurs at about age 17. As part of what is called the "general achievement test" there is a writing and...

Slight increase in US transportation fatalities. (News and notes).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Transportation fatalities in the United States rose 0.2% in 2000 over those in 1999, according to preliminary figures in a National Transportation Safety Board report released in September. The figures show that in 2000, 44 186 persons died in...

Improving glass safety in New Zealand schools. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Five years after a fatality in Blenheim on New Zealand's South Island, the Ministry of Education is investing NZ$7.5 million on improving glass safety. Every school in the country will be covered by the time the exercise is completed in...

PNCAP contract goes to TRL. (News and notes).(TRL Ltd. receives Primary New Car Assessment Programme contract)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The UK's transport research institution, TRL Ltd, has won a major contract from the UK government to examine the feasibility and potential for performing new car assessments in vehicle braking, handling, lighting, visibility, and ergonomics....

Infant safety vest for protection on planes. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Every day, 10 000 infants and toddlers fly on commercial airlines in the United States according to the National Transportation Safety Board, with in-flight turbulence causing almost 60 infant related injuries each year. More than 85% of...

Opposition to pedestrian safety plan. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The June issue of the ANEC Newsletter reported that ANEC, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) have sent a joint letter to the European Commissioners requesting them not to support the...

Soft bedding a factor in playpen deaths. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The US CPSC released a report in July 2001 on deaths in playpens. Since 1988, CPSC has reports of more than 200 babies who died while in playpens. In almost 100 of these deaths, soft bedding or improper or extra mattresses were present in the...

Cords on children's clothes. (News and notes).(safety standards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The first meeting of CEN Technical Committee 248 WG20, Textiles and textiles products, was held in London in April 2001. The Working Group will start with specific requirements for cords, but will begin to identify other areas that can be...

Booster conference on science and public policy. (News and notes).(automobile passenger safety for children)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... A booster seat conference, Closing the Gap Between Science and Public Policy, was held in Washington DC in April. It brought together researchers, engineers, policy makers, and advocates/educators to look at the latest knowledge about belt...

Popular Australian child restraints fail crash safety tests. (News and notes).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Australian States have long had requirements requiring the use of child restraints and strict requirements that all restraints sold meet the performance requirements of the relevant Australian/New Zealand Standard. Recent testing by road user...

Fences under review. (News and notes).(Britain's cross-country fences to be made safer for horseback riding)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Collaboration between TRL and the University of Liverpool Faculty of Veterinary Science is leading to safer cross country fences in work commissioned by the British Eventing Safety Committee. Cross country fences, unlike show jumping fences,...

Childhood agricultural injury summit. (News and notes).(safety program)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Summer 2001 issue of the newsletter from the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety reports that the Summit on Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention was strengthened by broad based participation. Ninety...

International comparisons: we need to know a lot more. (Opinion).(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... In response to the recently published UNICEF report on child injury deaths Ramsay asks "Do international comparisons help?" and concludes that provided countries occupying low positions are nor stigmatised the comparison serves a purpose if...

International comparisons: they do help and are essential for avoiding type III error. (Dissent).
December 1, 2001... In commenting on the report of child injury league tables issued by UNICEF, (1) Ramsay asked the rhetorical question: Do international comparison help? (2) Chalmers and Pless gave a conservative reply in the Editorial in Injury Prevention--"we...

The tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and the hard core drinking driver. (Special report).(social drinkers and traffic safety)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... In recent years, the alcohol industry (1-5) and certain traffic safety organizations (6-9) have tried to draw a sharp distinction between so-called "social drinkers" and "hard core drinking drivers". We are led to believe that great progress...

Cost effectiveness analysis of a smoke alarm giveaway program in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Original articles).(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--To estimate the cost effectiveness of the Lifesavers Residential Fire and Injury Prevention Program (LRFIPP), a smoke alarm giveaway program. Setting--In 1990, the LRFIPP distributed over 10 000 smoke alarms in an...

National attitudes concerning gun carrying in the United States.(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--To determine public attitudes in the United States concerning gun carrying. Setting--In the past 15 years, many state legislatures have passed laws making it easier for United States citizens to carry concealed...

Kentucky's graduated driver licensing program for young drivers: barriers to effective local implementation.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--To examine the implementation of graduated driver licensing (GDL) in Kentucky and to use the data collected to recommend actions to enhance the effectiveness of the GDL program. Methods--Data were acquired from...

Impact of graduated driver licensing restrictions on crashes involving young drivers in New Zealand.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--To determine the impact on young driver crashes of the three main driving restrictions in the New Zealand graduated driver licensing (GDL) system: night-time curfew, no carrying of young passengers, and a blood alcohol...

Exposure to violence and its relationship to psychopathology in adolescents.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--This study aimed to establish prevalence of adolescents' exposure to violence and related symptoms in the South African context and to explore relationships between exposure and symptoms. Setting--Four high...

Barriers to safe hot tap water: results from a national study of New Zealand plumbers.
December 1, 2001... Abstract Introduction--Many countries still have unacceptably high hospitalizations and deaths from scalds from hot tap water. Prevention strategies implemented in some countries may not work in others. Legislation aimed at changing...

Non-fatal animal related injuries to youth occurring on farms in the United States, 1998.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--To provide data on the magnitude and patterns of animal related on-farm injuries to youth in the United States. Data source--A survey of 26 000 farm households conducted for the National Institute for Occupational...

Predictors of injury from fighting among adolescent males.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--To identify violence related behaviors associated with injuries among adolescent males involved in fights. Methods--Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to develop weighted...

Hospitalized fall injuries and race in California.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--To compare risks for falls and their consequences among four major race/ethnic groups in California. Methods--Cases are 104 902 hospital discharges of California residents with a same level fall injury as the...

Dog bite and injury prevention--analysis, critical review, and research agenda.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--To analyze Australian dog bite injury data and make international comparisons; to review risk and protective factors relating to the dog, injured person, and environment; and to recommend action for prevention and...

Vehicles reversing or rolling backwards: an underestimated hazard. (Brief reports).(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--A retrospective analysis of injuries caused by vehicles that were reversing or rolling backwards to establish guidelines for prevention was performed. Patients and methods--Medical records and questionnaires completed...

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of sugarcane crushers towards hand injury prevention strategies in India.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Introduction--Injuries of the hand have an enormous impact on hand function and on quality of life. Occupational injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in India and their incidence has been steadily increasing....

A new department for injuries and violence prevention at the World Health Organization. (Featured programme).
December 1, 2001... Intentional and unintentional injuries represent approximately 11% of the global mortality and 13% of all disability adjusted life years lost every year. Recognising the magnitude of the problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently...

Accuracy of external cause of injury codes reported in Washington state hospital discharge records. (Methodologic issues).(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objective--To evaluate the accuracy of external cause of injury codes (E codes) reported in computerized hospital discharge records. Methods--All civilian hospitals in Washington State submit computerized data for each...

Use of Washington state newspapers for submersion injury surveillance.(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Abstract Objectives--To evaluate the usefulness of newspapers as a surveillance tool for submersion injury, the proportion of submersion events and important details reported in Washington State newspapers was determined. It was also...

The risk compensation theory and bicycle helmets. (Letters to the editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2001... EDITOR,--It has come to our attention that a number of readers have been mystified by our contribution to the debate about bicycle helmets published in the June issue (200l;7:86-91). In particular, those familiar with our previous writings on...

Safety in numbers? A new dimension to the bicycle helmet controversy. (Letters to the editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2001... EDITOR,--The recent exchange about risk compensation and bicycle helmets overlooked an important dimension of the issue. (1 2) By reducing cycling and, hence, diluting the effect of "safety in numbers", compulsory helmet laws could have the...

Calendar.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... 1st Asian Regional Safe Community Conference 25-27 February 2002, Suwong, South Korea. Further information: Ms Hyun Jong Song, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Wonchon-dong 5, Paldal-gu Suwon 442-721,...

Splinters & Fragments.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Most literature on soccer injuries among young people has focused on leg and head injuries, and the need for secure goalposts, shin guards, and limited "heading" of the ball. A new study examining wrist fractures resulting from "saving the...

6th World conference on injury prevention and control.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... 12-15 May 2002, Montreal, Canada The Organizing Committee is very pleased to invite you to take part in the 6th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control which will be held from May 12 to 15, 2002 at the Montreal Convention Centre....

Good health pays off for Xerox. Four year study shows those in wellness plan reduced on-job injuries.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Employers may have another reason to encourage employees to stay fit, trim, and healthy: reducing the $128 billion lost each year to workplace injuries. For years, advocates of workplace wellness programs have promoted them as a way to reduce...

Youth poisoned by cooking product.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Alcohol based food essences, available to minors in unlicensed supermarkets, have been implicated in the death of a 15 year old Australian youth. A coronial hearing has been told that the youth collapsed after drinking imitation vodka essence,...

Conker tree hazards.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... In June, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper (and subsequently many others) reported that 20 horse chestnut trees in Norwich were to be felled. Safety was at the heart of this heartless decision--children being hit by the sticks that they throw...

International injury research specialist.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Department of International Health of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health invites applications for a full time tenure track position at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. The JHU Department of International Health...

New York votes to ban phones held by drivers.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... New York has become the US first state to ban talking on a hand-held cellular telephone while driving, under a bill that the Assembly passed recently. The bill passed the Assembly by a 125 to 19 vote. Its passage is the latest development in a...

Editorial board member: brief biography.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Anne Tursz is French and studied medicine at the University of Paris V. She is a paediatrician and epidemiologist and has a degree in health economics. Her entire career has been devoted to public health, especially child and adolescent health....

Woman's bra stops nail shot from lawnmower.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Michigan resident, Dana Colwell, had more than an uplifting experience with her bust-enhancing bra last June. She considers it a real lifesaver. While cutting her grass, the 31 year old was hit in the chest by a 1.5 inch nail that shot out from...

Burger restaurants being changed.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... In June, Burger King announced that it was replacing the netting that encloses playgrounds at about 650 of its restaurants across the US after a 4 year old boy became entangled in the play equipment and died this spring. Burger King will...

Unattended vehicles: 54 deaths last year attributed to parents making mistakes.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Child safety advocates say people are in denial if they think only an unemployed security guard could make the fatal mistake of leaving his baby strapped in a hot car for hours, as happened in San Jose last week. Last year, at least 54 children...