Don't bounce your way to A&E

Published 29 Jun 2012 16:10

NHS Ayrshire & Arran have teamed up with Scottish Communities League Cup winners Kilmarnock Football Club this summer, to promote a trampoline safety poster campaign. Unveiled by Kenny Shiels and Garry Hay from Kilmarnock FC, the posters illustrate how children (and adults!) can keep safe on trampolines over the coming summer months.

Designed by 1st Stewarton Brownies with help from cartoonist Graham Ogilvie, the posters feature a series of four cartoons that tell the story of a group of over-excited guests at an afternoon barbeque and how their trampolining fun goes wrong, requiring a visit to a busy A&E department. The poster concludes with a 'safe trampolining' cartoon.

Mr David Chung, Clinical Director of Emergency and Urgent Care explains: "Everyone loves trampolines. Especially in the summer-time. They can be great fun! But you need to know how to use them safely, or accidents can happen. Last summer NHS Ayrshire & Arran Accident and Emergency departments dealt with more than 500 trampoline-related injuries including broken arms and legs, and painful neck injuries. Many of these injuries could have been avoided if people had followed some sensible rules."

While great fun and a good way to keep fit, trampolines have the potential to cause serious injury. Falling off a trampoline can have the same impact on a child as being thrown out of a first floor window. The new poster clearly represents the ups and downs of trampolining and outlines a number of recommendations all designed to promote safe play. They include:

Only one person should use the trampoline at a time. More than one, and things can get dangerous. It's harder to control where and how you land when other people are bouncing at the same time as you.

Make sure the trampoline, padding and safety net are not damaged in any way.

Keep other toys away from the trampoline

Don't take food or drink on with you and avoid trampolines if you have been drinking alcohol

Don't let anyone crawl underneath the trampoline

Have fun, but don't attempt somersaults or complicated moves without training

Remember always to step down safely off the trampoline and don't bounce off or you might just end up bouncing your way to A&E!

Supervise play whenever possible.

Keep the trampoline on soft ground (not on concrete slabs or tarmac).

Follow the trampoline's safety instructions.

Irene Campbell, Project Manager for the campaign, said: "We felt it was vital to involve young people in the creation of our new trampoline safety posters to make sure the recommendations for using a trampoline were clearly understood and suitably designed. We were absolutely delighted with the ideas 1st Stewarton Brownies came up with. They had some invaluable first-hand experience to share with us and gave us some great, creative suggestions. The cartoons are fun and eye-catching and really get the message across.

"With the support of Kilmarnock FC, we hope to draw attention to our trampoline safety campaign and prevent more people bouncing their way to A&E this summer".

The 'Don't Bounce Your way to A&E' poster campaign will feature in communities across Ayrshire including GPs surgeries, libraries and schools as well as on Facebook and a YouTube cartoon at http://youtu.be/e3gYhXt7fdk

More information on trampoline safety is available from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), visit their website www.rospa.com.

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