Child home injury prevention scheme

Overview

The child home injury prevention (CHIP) scheme aims to keep children safe from home accidents. 

Accidents around the home are a leading cause of preventable death and disability for children under five. 

The scheme provides: 

  • home safety assessment (CHIP assessments)
  • the supply and fitting of safety equipment (CHIP visits)
  • parent education
  • resources to staff and volunteers to support families 

Home safety (CHIP) assessment

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that homes with children under five have a 'structured home safety assessment'. The assessment will identify and address any child injury risks in the home.

The CHIP assessment helps practitioners to:

  • take a systematic approach to identify child injury risk in the home
  • give consistent safety advice according to the latest evidence
  • keep a record of identified risks and the action taken to mitigate them

There is a strong link between the types of accidents children are involved in and their stage of development. The assessment will:

  • look at risks associated with developmental milestones
  • encourage families to think about what is working well and what can be done to make their children safer

To make a referral for equipment, practitioners need to complete the CHIP visit referral form. 

Supply and fitting of safety equipment (CHIP) visit

CHIP visits are provided by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR). Upon referral, LFR will visit the household and supply and fit safety equipment as necessary. This may include:

  • safety gates (to prevent access to and falls on stairs)
  • window restrictors (to prevent falls from windows)
  • fire guards (to prevent access to open fires)
  • cupboard locks (to prevent access to cupboards containing medicines and poisonous household chemicals)
  • blind cord cleats (to prevent access to blind cords, which could cause entanglement and suffocation)
  • hair-straightener pouches (to prevent burns from hot hair straighteners)

They will also undertake a home fire safety check. This check includes escape planning with the family and installation of smoke or CO alarms, if needed.
Referrals for CHIP visits can only be made by:

  • early help workers
  • early years practitioners
  • health visitors
  • family health workers
  • social workers

The referral form will ask for a copy of the household's CHIP assessment. This demonstrates the need for equipment and evidences that home safety has been discussed with the family.

It is LFR's responsibility to assess for and fit safety equipment according to manufacturer's instructions and best practice. It is not LFR's responsibility to educate parents about accident prevention – this is the responsibility of the referring practitioner. 

The provision and installation of safety equipment is only effective in preventing injuries when combined with parent education. The CHIP e-learning and assessment tool are designed to support practitioners with this.

CHIP visits are targeted at households where children are at the greatest risk of injury. The following characteristics indicate that a child may be at high risk:

  • they live in areas of deprivation
  • they live in rented accommodation, poor quality housing or homes of multiple occupancies
  • their parents are unemployed or have never worked
  • their parent's ability to supervise is impaired (for example, due to mental health problems, health or care needs, substance misuse, number of children in the property)
  • they have young or single parents with poor support networks
  • their parents can't afford safety equipment

The following eligibility criteria are therefore applied. The child or family must be on:

  • child protection plan
  • child in need assessment or plan
  • Early Support Care Co-ordination (ESCO)
  • Team Around the Child (TAC) plan
  • income-based jobseekers allowance; income related employment support allowance; income support, including universal credit
  • working tax credits or child tax credits
  • disability living allowance or personal independence payments
  • housing benefit or council tax benefit

Some points to consider before referring:

  • ensure you have the consent of the parent or carer
  • if the parent or carer is a tenant, they will need to have permission from their landlord
  • be aware that LFR will not install safety gates unless there is a child aged less than 24 months in the property
  • we will notify you with details of any action taken during the visit. Please retain this in the child or family record.

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept new referrals at the moment.

Resources

CHIP training

Parent education plays an important role in preventing child accidents in the home. Staff and volunteers working with families are in a great position to educate parents and carers about child injuries and how they can be prevented.  

Anyone who works with children under five years of age or supports families with children under five must complete the CHIP e-learning module.  It takes around 20 minutes and, by the end, practitioners will be able to:

  • identify what causes the most common and serious injuries in the under-fives and what can be done to prevent them
  • explain the link between child development and injuries
  • find useful resources to help you prevent accidents

To access the course:

  • go to the safeguarding Lincolnshire website. If you need to register read these instructions.
  • click 'learning'
  • click 'available learning'
  • type 'Chip' into the search bar. 'Child Home Injury Prevention (CHIP) E-Learning' will appear
  • click 'start' and then click 'start' again
  • click 'download' and then open the PowerPoint
  • click 'slide show' once in the document and click through it using the mouse or spacebar
  • once finished, click 'next' on the e-learning site and it'll take you to a quiz. Complete the quiz to gain a certificate.

Preventing unintentional injuries guide 

This guide is for all staff working with children under five years and covers:

  • data
  • actions for practitioners
  • safety messages for parents and carers

Read the preventing unintentional injuries guide on the public health England website.

Injury prevention briefing

The injury prevention briefing has been produced by the keeping children safe at home research programme at the University of Nottingham. The briefing has ideas for activities, education and training for practitioners working with children and families. 

For easy-read, safe sleep resources, visit the Lullaby Trust. 

For advice for parents on keeping their under-five's safe, visit the parent hub on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) website.

To find out about work to reduce the number of children and young people killed, disabled or seriously injured in accidents, visit The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT).

For further information, email the Chip team