AIPN E-Bulletin
July 2014
New Baby Sling Safety Campaign
The Queensland Office of Fair Trading, working with the Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety (CARRS-Q), have recently released a new campaign focusing on the safe use of Baby Slings. Incorporating an online video, brochure and poster, the camping was launched in late June to coincide with Brisbane’s hosting of the Pregnancy, Baby and Children’s Expo.
Associate Professor Kirsten Vallmuur, who worked on the campaign with colleagues from CARRS-Q said the new messages focused on reminding parents of the safety concerns around slings, and the risk they can pose to babies and small children.
“Parents and care givers need to take care when using slings, as there have been incidents of babies suffocating while in a sling. Babies are at risk if they are not placed in the sling correctly, because they are not yet old enough to move out of a dangerous position that can block their airway” said Associate Professor Vallmuur.
“The new campaign highlights the T.I.C.K.S checklist parents can utilize when using a baby sling. That is – Tight, In View at all times, Close enough to kiss, Keep chin off chest and Supported back”.
“By following the T.I.C.K.S checklist when positioning your baby in a sling, parents are reducing the possibility of suffocation and other risks” added Associate Professor Vallmuur.
For further information, including access to the video and other campaign materials, visit
Ethanol Fireplaces – Product Safety Warning
The Queensland Office of Fair Trading has also recently released a product safety warning for ethanol fireplaces due to a number of recent severe burn injuries attributed to the products.
According to the Office of Fair Trading, “Ethanol fireplaces are advertised as smokeless, eco-friendly products that do not require professional installation, connection to gas lines or ventilation.The products come in a variety of styles, including freestanding and models intended to sit atop furniture”.
“Some models have an open flame which can be difficult to see, particularly in daylight, and this creates a risk that someone may think the flame is extinguished and try to refuel or move the device while the flame is still lit”.
For more information, including a range of safety tips when dealing with ethanol fireplaces, visit
Injury Prevention and Social Media – who are you following?
As the use of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube continues to increase amongst injury prevention researchers, advocates and industry groups, why not take the opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the world. Each edition of the AIPN E-Bulletin will feature a selection of individuals and organisationswho are doing great work harnessing social media for the distribution and discussion of injury prevention.
Australian Injury Prevention Network - @_AIPN
The Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention - @ACRISPFedUni
The George Institute - @georgeinstitute
Injury Prevention - @IP_BMJ
Centre for Disease Control Injury Division - @CDCInjury
Parachute Canada - @parachutecanada
Public Health Association of Australia - @_PHAA_
Do you have some favorite twitter accounts or blog sites you would like to share with other AIPN members? Let us know by emailing and we will include them in the next AIPN E-Bulletin.
Rates of hospitalised injury and length of stay rise with older age
A new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report focusing on hospitalised injuries in older Australians shows there were approximately 126,000 Australians aged 65 and over admitted to hospital due to injury for the period 2011–12. The rate of injury hospitalisations for this period increased from 1,729 cases per 100,000 population for Australians aged 65–69 to 11,375 cases per 100,000 population for those aged 85 or over. While the average length of stay in hospital increased from nearly 5 days at ages 65–69 to over 8 days at age 85 and over.
The leading causes of unintentional injury in 2011–12 were falls (77%). Injury by inanimate mechanical forces (injuries involving an object) (6%), transport crashes (5%), animate mechanical forces (injuries due to contact with animals or people, excluding assault), or venomous bites and stings (2%) and poisoning by pharmaceuticals (1%) accounted for most of the remaining unintentional injury.
Intentional self harm accounted for slightly less than 1% of all hospitalised injury cases of Australians aged 65 and over.
Other findings from the report include:
- Women were more likely than men to have been injured while in a car, as a pedestrian, or on a bus, and less likely than men to have been injured while using a motorcycle or a pedal cycle.
- Bites or being struck by dogs, cats, cattle, and horses were the most common causes of hospitalisation among older Australians due to animate mechanical forces.
- Medications used to treat diabetes and manage pain were the most common drugs reported in cases of unintentional poisoning by pharmaceuticals.
- Intentional self-poisoning using pharmaceutical drugs accounted for the majority of hospitalisations for intentional self-harm.
Click here to download Tovell A, Harrison JE & Pointer S 2014. Hospitalised injury in older Australians, 2011–12. Injury research and statistics series no. 90. Cat. no. INJCAT 166. Canberra: AIHW.
AIPN Member Honored with PHAA NSW State Chapter Award
Professor Rebecca Ivers, former AIPN President and Director of Injury at the George Institute, was recently recognized with the Public Health Association of Australia (NSW Chapter) Public Health Impact Award.
According to the awards criteria, the award, now in it’s 17th year, was initiated by the Branch to recognise outstanding contributions to a public health issue. The growing list of previous awardees shows a dedicated group of public health professionals highlighting the commitment of the many people working to improve the health of the population and reduce health inequities.
In receiving this award, Professor Ivers has demonstrated a significant impact on an important public health issue in Australia, with a focus on NSW, including her leadershipand advocacy for a public health issue; her innovative research and policy solutions to public health problems and acknowledgment of her commitment to building partnerships to improve public health.
Driving Change amongst Indigenous Learner Drivers
Many AIPN members are either working in, or have an interest in, injury prevention within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Since the establishment of the Networks symposium on this issue last July, the Network is committed to distributing more information about current research projects and public health programs designed to reduce the incidence of injury, and enhance the overall level of health and safety, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The George Institute for Global Health’s Driving Change program is designed to support youngAboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders through thelicensing system. The program is running in 12 communities in NSW, with a rigorous evaluation being conducted concurrently. Utilising a mentor-mentee program structure, participants are partnered with a licenced driver who assists the participant in logging the required number of supervised hours driving practice. Aboriginal youth workers administer the program at each location and also assist community members with accessing ID documents, managing debt and practicing license tests.
Professor Rebecca Ivers, lead researcher on the project, explains there can be a number of challenges that young Aboriginal people face through the licensing process.
“Their parents might not have their licence, or they might not own a car, so they have no way to learn or get their hours up” said Professor Ivers.
Professor Ivers also believes the program has huge scope to help young Aboriginal people engage in the community, improve their capacity to seek employment, increase their education opportunities and access other services that may have been otherwise out of reach.
Project officer Jake Byrne works with the youth workers across NSW and says the program is making a difference to the lives of young people.
“Simply having a licence can be the difference between a young person getting the job that keeps them out of trouble or staying in school,” he said.
The Driving Change trial is funded by AstraZeneca, Transport for NSW and NSW Health.
For more information on the Driving Change project, visit
The George Institute is also conducting work on burns in Aboriginal children, falls in older Aboriginal people and is also leading a child restraint trial in the 12 communities involved in Driving Change.
AIPN Members may also be interested in a recent piece published on The Conversation website, focusing on childhood obesity amongst Indigenous communities. You can read more about the work being done by researchers at the Queensland University of Technology, and Diabetes Queensland, by visiting
Time to make sports injury prevention for children a priority
Road traffic injuries are known to be a major problem, and by making this a priority many injuries have been prevented through laws and education campaigns that have made cars and roads safer to use. In contrast, new research has shown that, whilst there has been a decrease in road traffic injury in children over the past seven years in Victoria, Australia, the number of sports injuries has been on the rise. This is of concern because participating in sport has known health benefits and all children should be able to participate regularly without being sidelined by injury. There are many ways to make sport safer, and knowing that sports injuries are such a big problem is the first step in prioritising the prevention of sports injuries.
By comparing the number of children treated in hospital for road traffic injuries with those who were treated for sports injuries, this research has shown that the number of sports injuries and cost of treatment outweighs that of road traffic injuries. The researchers emphasise that this does not lessen the importance of preventing road traffic injuries, but rather shows that government and other agencies also need to target sports injury prevention for the health of our children.
To find out more, read the full publication at
Published source: Finch CF, WongShee A, Clapperton A. Time to add a new priority target for child injury prevention? The case for an excess burden associated with sport and exercise injury: population-based study. BMJ Open 2014; 4:e005043.doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005043
Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Competing interests: CFF was supported by NHMRC Principal Research Fellowships (ID: 565900 and 1058737) and AC by the VISU core grant from the Victorian Department of Health. CFF and AWS have support from Federation University Australia and AC has support from Monash University for the submitted work.
Australasian Symposium on Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing – Early Bird Registration Closes 8 August 2014
Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), Faculties of Health and Creative Industries and the School of Business welcome you to the first Australasian Symposium on Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing (Health CAM 2014) which will be held in Brisbane, Australia, on Tuesday 30 September 2014.
With a theme of “The Future of Public Health Communication”, and a sub-theme of Government/lndustry/Research collaboration, the symposium will be a multidisciplinary event focusing on the development, communication, and evaluation of effective behaviour change campaigns in the area of Public Health.
The symposium will be a forum at which all those involved in health, advertising, public relations, campaign creation, behaviour change research, policy development, campaign implementation and evaluation can meet with researchers, academics, and professionals to discuss and present on the latest work being undertaken in these areas.
Included in the program are:
•Involving the community to make roads safer
•Creating effective linkages between government, agencies and research
•Smartphone and SMS applications in health promotion
To find out more, and to register, visit the Event Website.
SafetyLit – Free Abstract Search of over 30 Injury Prevention disciplines
SafetyLit provides abstracts of reports from researchers who work in the more than 30 distinct professional disciplines relevant to preventing and researching unintentional injuries, violence, and self-harm.
Provided at no cost, SafetyLit offers readers the opportunity to subscribe to an emailed weekly update of new publications, as well as over 375,000 items in their searchable database.
For more information, and to search the resource, visit
Move More, Sit Less and Eat Better – City of Melbourne Initiative
A new initiative by the City of Melbourne is encouraging residents and workers in the CBD to become more active over winter, and end up with a ‘Spring in their Step’ this year.
Focusing on small changes or “100 Ways to Move it More”, the campaign is providing suggestions for individuals, workplaces, schools and community groups to increase their physical activity levels each day, and make changes to their eating habits, all with the intention of increasing overall health and lifestyle.
With posters, brochures, and a smart phone App, resources are available to help people keep active during the campaign and beyond.
To find out more, including downloadable posters, visit
Upcoming Events and Conferences
3-8 Aug / 13th Global Level Crossing Symposium, Urbana, USA17-19 Aug / Alcohol Interlock Symposium 14, Washington DC, USA
19-21 Aug / 2014 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing & Media, Atlanta, USA
24-27 Aug / XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014, Frankfurt, Germany
25-28 Aug / Fourth International Symposium on Naturalistic Driving Research, Virginia, USA
25-28 Aug / ICRASH 2014, Sarawak, Malaysia
18-19 Sept / OSIT2014: 2nd International Conference on Occupational Safety in Transport, Gold Coast
30 Sept / HealthCAM14: 1st Australasian Symposium on Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing, Brisbane
2-5 Aug 2016 / ICTTP2016: 6th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology, Brisbane