News Release Templates

The following news release template can be cut and pasted into a Word document. Fill in the required information when you are launching Risk Watch in your community, or make changes to it for any Risk Watch event you are organizing. Send it to your local media so they know what you are doing in your community. Download a PDF version.

New program to prevent childhood injuries
launched in
(insert city/town name)

(insert city/town name), (insert date) - Risk Watch®, the first comprehensive injury prevention program in Ontario, was launched today to prevent childhood deaths and injuries in (insert the name of your municipality/region).

The (insert the name of your coalition/fire department) launched the program throughout (insert the name of the region/municipality) and is working with area school boards to implement Risk Watch in local elementary schools.

“The majority of injuries children encounter throughout their childhood are preventable and predictable,” said (insert name and position of fire department/coalition representative). “Elementary schools across the region can use Risk Watch to incorporate safety lessons into daily activities in classrooms from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 8. Risk Watch will ultimately instil safer behaviours in future generations and help prevent injuries from occurring in the first place.”

The Risk Watch program includes activities promoting safety for each of the eight leading causes of childhood injuries, including motor vehicle safety; fire and burn prevention; choking, suffocation and strangulation prevention; poinsoning prevention; falls and playground injury prevention; firearms injury prevention; bike and pedestrian safety; and water and ice safety.

The program provides a number of cross-curricular safety activities and resources that can be easily incorporated into all school subjects. It also includes activities that foster critical thinking skills and sequential learning, and assessment tools to best complement the Ontario school curriculum.

“Unintentional injury is a significant problem in communities across the province that typically goes unnoticed,” said Patrick Burke, Fire Marshal of Ontario. “While injury is something that affects us all, too little is done to prevent it from happening.”

In Canada, the leading cause of death and disability for children is preventable injuries; more children die annually from injuries than from all other childhood diseases combined. According to SMARTRISK, a national injury prevention organization, almost 40,000 children and youth are seen in hospital emergency departments every year due to injuries in the home. The annual economic burden of unintentional injuries for all ages is $8.7 billion.

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For more information contact:

(insert fire department/coalition contact name and telephone number)