Austria

Safe Kids Austria/Grosse Schützen Kleine is a nonprofit child safety organization with offices in seven Austrian provinces. In 2001, Grosse Schützen Kleine became a member of Safe Kids Worldwide.

Established in 1983, Grosse Schützen Kleine often works with midwives, doctors and children's nurses, parents, childcare workers and teachers to implement safety programs. Local network offices collaborate with the Red Cross, police departments, fire departments, local governments and other like-minded organizations to reach parents and caregivers with vital injury prevention information.

Approximately 1.3 million children in Austria have been involved with Grosse Schützen Kleine programs. Programs cover risk areas such as home safety and road traffic safety.

Programs of Safe Kids Austria/Grosse Schützen Kleine include:

• National program on prevention counseling by pediatricians
• Child Safety Starter Box project
• National Child Safety Action Plan
• Training Course for Assistants in Private Pediatric Practice
• First Ride – Safe Ride
• Austrian Child Safety House
• Child Safety Information Program for Newborn Children
• Bedside counseling

Highlights

Safe Kids Austria Opens BÄRENBURG, the Child Safety House Graz

In 2008, Grosse Schützen Kleine opened the BÄRENBURG, the first Austrian Child Safety House. Built inside the Medical University Hospital of Graz, participants can explore child safety with all of their senses. All risk areas – home, garden, traffic, and sports - are featured, and visitors learn effective ways how to prevent injuries to children in the child safety house.

The Safety House welcomed kindergartens to participate in a special child safety training developed for young children. The training program addressed home safety and worked to teach children safe behaviors, while empowering them to be safety advocates.

Safe Kids Austria Introduces Traffic Safety Calendar

In 2008, GROSSE SCHUETZEN KLEINE/Safe Kids Austria developed a special traffic safety calendar for primary school children. With the support of the Styrian Traffic Safety Fund, the calendar, which helps teachers to integrate traffic safety in the school curriculum, was distributed to all 500 primary schools in the province of Styria.

With the Safety Calendar, teachers can address traffic safety on a regular basis by using a specific child-appropriate design and wording as well as worksheets and activities. Each month, the calendar features a different story about safety for car passengers, pedestrians and cyclists, safety in and around school buses and many other safety issues.

BÄRENBURG – Child Safety House Graz Wins First Austrian Award for Health Communications

In May 2009, BÄRENBURG, the Child Safety House Graz was awarded the Austrian Award for Health Communications. It was the first time the award was granted, and it acknowledges those who have worked to provide an extraordinary example of innovative health communication in Austria.

The BÄRENBURG is located inside the Children’s Medical Centre of the University Hospital Graz and was built in 2008 by GROSSE SCHÜTZEN KLEINE/Safe Kids Austria. Known as the first Austrian Child Safety House, it presents information about the sources of safety hazards in the home, as well as shows how these risk areas may be detected and prevented.

Following the Indicators for Safe Children Communities, GROSSE SCHÜTZEN KLEINE/Safe Kids Austria initiated a three-year community safety program in the district of Deutschlandsberg in 2007. This district comprises 39 communities with 60,000 inhabitants, including 9,500 children aged 14 and under.

The goal of the Child Safety House was to build an infrastructure for child injury prevention, while developing safe-children policies and long-term, sustainable programs for both genders and all child age groups, environments, situations, and high-risk groups. Other goals are to be able to document frequency and causes of injuries, evaluate measures, and document participation in Safe Community networks.