I often hear and use ‘the world has gone mad’ these days but it is no longer just the political correctness, with all that has happened over the last few years you do wonder if the authorities really have gone mad.
…Trampoline injuries may seem a strange example but bear with me. A study by the University of Sydney analysed 1.4 million trampoline injuries worldwide and suggests “Trampoline injuries explain 50% of admissions to emergency departments in children under 14 in the UK”.
My first thought was wow, why hadn’t I heard this before, but a bit of googling quickly found report after report effectively saying a similar thing. Trampolines are a major cause of accidents and back in 2018 the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents estimated that English A&E departments dealt with 13,000 cases a year, well before trampoline sales soared, particularly during the pandemic lockdowns. Fortunately, most accidents are relatively minor, but some are very serious spinal or head injuries with younger children more likely to suffer the worst injuries.
The figures help explain why insuring children’s soft play centres can be so expensive, although the introduction of voluntary safety rules, partly driven by insurers, have meant that garden trampolines are the bigger problem, hence the increase in parents suing for compensation when their child is injured on another parent’s garden trampoline.
The authorities appear to be aware of these facts and part of me is surprised, but also pleased, they haven’t been banned given their general aversion to risk: the councillors in Cornwall cutting down daffodils near a play park in case kids eat them, being a prime example.
Playing is of course part of growing up and involves some risk but in view of the number of accidents and no doubt cost to the NHS, the madness is the lack of reaction to a very real problem. By comparison, millions (and probably billions) were spent either jabbing kids or on propaganda to persuade parents to jab them, even though it was obvious by the time COVID vaccines were being rolled out to under 18s, it was only vulnerable children at risk.
That money has now gone, so in view of the current state of the nation’s finances providing free safety equipment such as nets is probably pushing it, but at the very least some sort of safety training could be rolled out in schools for kids (and even parents) detailing the hazards and safe bouncing techniques.
Surely we should expect more sense from the authorities and having had a trampoline for my kids when they were younger, I am pleased we only had a few tears from time to time and nothing more serious.
More Madness?
Ecclesiastical, an insurer who generally specialise in church insurance, have recently paid £30,000 to a claimant for a data breach for mistakenly revealing their name in a letter published on their website for 2 days. The letter related to a critical review of church safeguarding practices and identified the claimant as a survivor of child sexual abuse at the hands of the church in the 1970s. However, factoring in costs and fees, the claimant received less for the sexual abuse claim when it was settled in 2015 than they have for the data breach.
Make up your own mind.
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