Regular readers of the Injury Prevention blog will know that I frequently share articles, reports and other information that changes the way I perceived and/or understood various mechanisms of injury and their broader impact. Hopefully sharing my own experiences is useful to others, particularly if we share an epiphany-of-sorts. Today’s post is also enlightening for […]
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Cannabis safer than alcohol for drivers (?)
Someone brought to my attention a link to a site with the intriguing name “The Daily Chronic’. It appears to be a pro-cannabis site. They came across a paper in Accid Analysis and Prevention by a pot advocate but which seems to show that marijuana is safer for drivers than alcohol. Even if confirmed, I […]
Injury Prevention and Alzheimer’s Disease
A fascinating article in the August edition of Prevention Science has me looking at Alzheimer’s Disease in a whole different way. Rather than me seeing it as an outcome, a disease which today afflicts tens of millions of people around the world, I now see it as a brain injury which to some extent can be prevented. […]
Upcoming twitter discussion event
I received an email today from Duncan Vernon of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). On the 30th of July at 8.00pm BST (GMT+1), Duncan will be guest hosting a twitter discussion about an “Editor’s choice” article recently published in Injury Prevention. Public health professionals from a variety of backgrounds regularly participate in […]
The effects of plain packaging of cigarettes
Following a 3-month rollout period, since 1 December 2012 all tobacco products manufactured and sold in Australia have had to be in plain brown packaging. Seventy-five percent of the front of the pack requires a graphic health warning, and the brand name is restricted to a set font and size (see http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2011L02644 for the packaging regulations). As noted on the […]
Dangerous design flaws long noted in rail car involved in the deadly Quebec fire.
As a Quebecer I am horrified by the runaway rail car crash in Megantic, Quebec. As reported in FairWarning this appears to be yet another example of poorly enforced regulations coupled with lax enforcement. As FairPlay notes, “The DOT-111 tank car is widely used to carry hazardous waste, oil and ethanol. But federal regulators have […]
Dumb ways to die
I wanted to take a different approach to my blog today, and thought I would share a light-hearted approach to a really important injury prevention problem – rail safety. I am sure many of you are familiar with the Dumb ways to die campaign launched by Metro Trains in Victoria last November, particularly after it […]
Guidance for bridging the great divide between research and practice: Preventing injuries in sport
Building on from my theme in last week’s blog, I came across this interesting article this morning. Whilst injury prevention in sports is not my domain of research, nor may it be the research domain of many readers of the Injury Prevention blog, the principles and practices contained within can guide researchers trying to bridge […]
Practice informed by research: Successfully crossing the divide
As injury prevention researchers, one of the eternal struggles we must overcome is how to use our research to inform both practice and policy. Needless to say that my heart was gladdened today when I read an evidence-based protocol for a study designed to reduce alcohol-related injuries in the Northern Territory of Australia. You would be hard-pressed to find someone, […]
Malnutrition: Another form of injury that can be prevented
This week my attention was drawn to the Save the Children’s report “Food for Thought: Tackling child malnutrition to unlock potential and boost prosperity” (read more at http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/FOOD_FOR_THOUGHT.PDF). As I read this report, I had to reassess exactly what I believed injury to be. The most basic definition of injury is damage or harm which is inflicted […]