After Ergon Energy spread safety awareness to 71,000 children across Queensland last year, Energex has come on board to influence even more school kids in 2016.
The Safety Heroes educational program helps teach primary school students how electricity works and how to behave safely around electricity and electrical equipment.
While there is a focus on primary schools during Electrical Safety Week (starting on September 5), the Safety Heroes program also engages Year Six students as part of the science curriculum.
Ergon acting chief executive Ros Baker said feedback from the inaugural year of the Safety Heroes program was an eye-opener.
“Teachers have passed on evidence that while their students are embracing the program and passing on the Safety Heroes knowledge to siblings and friends, many children are still unaware of possible electrical dangers,” he said.
Formal feedback provided by 15 per cent of registered schools indicated that 89 per cent of teachers believed that Electrical Safety Week activities helped their students be safer around electricity. Program surveys also revealed, for example, that some children were unaware some of the basic industry safety messages that we know so well.
One teacher commented: “The theme of safety heroes encouraged them to go home and search for danger and educate others.”
“They did not know that it was unsafe to put a knife into a toaster, many said they will warn older sisters about hairdryers near water. They learnt a lot about unsafe situations that were unfamiliar to them,” another teacher said.
