An important mission of healthcare providers is educating the public how to reduce the number of accidents and hospital visits in the first place, and a recent gathering in Luxembourg aimed to show how we can do just that.
Part of a series of European Injury Prevention Conferences that have taken place over the last few decades, the EU-Safety 2019 conference that took place on October 3-4, 2019 provided a platform for safety and healthcare experts to discuss new measures and developments. The event was attended by some 200 participants from more than 40 countries from fields of government, academia, healthcare, and risk management. Delegates called for concrete steps to be taken to improve safety across Europe, the most pressing one being the need to improve the collection and distribution of accident-related data. The gathering was held at the Neumünster Abbey at the foot of the towering cliffs of the old quarter of Luxembourg City. Opening remarks were delivered by Dr Jean-Claude Schmit, Director of Health at the Ministry of Health, and these were followed by a welcome from Luxembourg Minister of Health Etienne Schneider. Keynote speakers included Martyn Allen, Technical Director of Electrical Safety First, a UK organisation which is dedicated to preventing injury and death from electricity; Ella Arenseman, Professor at the School of Public Health at University College Cork in Ireland; and Birgitte Blatter, Head of Monitoring and Research at the Consumer Safety Institute in the Netherlands.
