LASER Accreditation for Safety Zone
A twice-yearly outdoor safety education initiative, which teaches children how to manage risk in order to stay safe, has been awarded LASER Accreditation by the LASER Alliance.
Safety Zone, which takes place during the summer and autumn terms at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, aims to teach children how to keep themselves, their families and friends safe by making the right decisions when exposed to risk.
The multi-agency event, which is co-ordinated by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, sees 2,500 children aged 10 and 11 working alongside professionals in a range of interactive scenarios. These focus on topics such as the dangers of playing near sub-stations, how to avoid hazards on or near water, safe behaviour when using public transport and the impact of making hoax emergency calls.
LASER Accreditation is a voluntary quality assurance programme for providers of practical safety education. Schools and other organisations can be confident that any event that has received LASER Accreditation has been approved at a high level for use in LASER activities.
Crew Manager Dave Evans, who represents the East Midlands at national meetings of the LASER Alliance, said: “LASER believes the children should be “as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible”, acknowledging the fact that some degree of risk-taking is an important part of life. Without learning to safely manage risks our children and young people cannot fulfil their full potential and, as adults, may never realise their dreams.
“Being part of LASER and working closely with RoSPA has major benefits for NFRS and our partners, because of their knowledge and expertise in the area of child safety. Children’s safety knowledge has been found to increase by 10% by participating in Safety Zone.
“A lot of hard work has gone into gaining the LASER Accreditation – it was important to us that our event is seen as a prime example of good practice and quality outdoor learning.”
The LASER Alliance is hosted by RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) which supports members committed to helping people learn how to make responsible decisions about safety and risk. LASER Alliance members range from individuals to large organisations across the UK, but the underlying ethos is to promote Learning About Safety by Experiencing Risk (LASER).
Partner agencies involved in Safety Zone are; Nottingham E-Learning, Nottinghamshire Police, St John Ambulance, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Western Power Distribution, East Midlands Ambulance Service, Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Road Safety Teams, NCT Buses and NET trams.
Plans are now under way for the next Safety Zone events, which take place at Holme Pierrepont from 17 to 28 September 2012 and 11 to 22 March 2013.
