Among the events of the “Occupational Health and Wellness” campaign at Emirates Transport, the Office of Occupational Environment, Safety, and Health organized an awareness lecture for employees in the General Administration and the Dubai branch about the use of child safety seats in cars. In attendance was Hanaan Mohamed Saqar, director of Human Resources and Khalid Shakir, director of the Office of Occupational Environment, Safety, and Health, and a group of staff in the auditorium of the training center at the company’s headquarters in Dubai.
The lecture, organized in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Health Authority and a children’s store, a lecture titled “Child safety seats...save the lives of children,” presented by Dr. Reem Al Amirya, first officer in the Department of Health Education and Information at the Abu Dhabi Health Authority. She began the lecture by showing a cartoon clip about the importance of using child safety seats in cars, then mentioned traffic accidents in the country that represent this haunting problem which requires the combination of institutional and governmental efforts to create safety on highways, especially the safety of children in cars as a first priority to those responsible in this issue. She indicated that children (ages 1-18) represent 11% of all deaths that result from traffic accidents in Abu Dhabi during the period from 2008-2011, and that 70% of fatal injuries to children are the result of highway accidents, and thus traffic accidents have become the principal reason for child deaths from injuries in the nation according to the results of a study.
Dr. Al Amirya noted in the lecture which was interactive and a discussion which drew the attendees’ attention to the key factors that lead to a rise in child deaths on the highway, centering on increased speed, dangerous driving, not using seatbelts while driving, and not using child safety seats. She drew attention to the fact that 98% of children do not buckle seatbelts or use child safety seats, and that 23% of children sit in the front seat while riding. 98% do not use a seatbelt or safety seat.
She clarified the reasons that make it urgent to use fastening systems special for children in cars, whereas safety belts are designed for adults, not children. Their bodies have not finished growing and are more susceptible to injury, just as head-size in infants and toddlers is proportionally larger than the rest of their bodies. To preserve its safety, it is recommended to use the rear seat as long as possible.
She called for the necessity of concerned parties in the country to put in place a law that requires the use of child safety seats, in violation of all that is applied, pointing out that the only traffic law that is especially for children only provides that they do not sit in the front seat until the age of 10.
She then presented models of painful traffic accidents that killed young children because they were not using a child safety seat in the car. She also presented an explanation of what happens to children during impact. In it the passengers who were not wearing seatbelts continue moving at the same speed that the vehicle was going before the collision are thrown towards the front—probably towards the steering wheel for the driver, or toward the back of the front seat for the back seat passengers. Or alternatively they might be thrown outside of the vehicle entirely, in which case the probability of serious injury or death would sharply increase.
The speaker emphasized that the mother must not try and hold the baby in her lap in the front seat of the car, as this is an enormous danger and she will not be able to hold on to the child in the case of a traffic collision.
She concluded by mentioning the types and sizes of seats special for children with special positions—either forward- or backward-facing, according to the age, weight, and height of the child, booster seats for large children, and eventually a normal seatbelt. She also showed how to verify the safety of safety seats when buying and how to use them pointing out that using the right kind of safety seat reduces serious injury and death by 50% to 75%.
The event also included a definitive explanation presented by Mr. Fatouh Jamal, director of the Child Car Safety Seat Awareness Campaign, and branch director of a children’s store in Fujairah about types of seats and how to use them practically.
At the conclusion of the lecture, the children’s store distributed free vouchers for employees in attendance, then Ms. Hanaan Saqar, director of Human Resources at Emirates Transport, thanked Dr. Reem Al Amirya with Ms. Amina Al Amiry from the Abu Dhabi Health Authority, and Mr. Khalid Shakar, director of Occupational Environment, Safety, and Health, in addition to Mohamed Zahran and Roumi Mansour from the office.
On the other hand, the campaign’s events continue on Thursday by holding a lecture about first-aid in cooperation with the Dubai Corporation for ambulance services, presented by Fouad Zaki, in the General Administration building in Dubai.
Source: Emirates Transport – Government Communication