Objectives-To analyze Australian dog bite injury data and make international comparisons; to review risk and protective factors relating to the dog, injured person, and environment; and to recommend action for prevention and research. Methods-Australian dog bite injury data, complemented by detailed Victorian and regional data from routine health records and vital statistics, were analyzed to determine incidence, severity, nature, circumstances, and trends. International comparison data were extracted from published reports. Risk and protective factor studies were selected for review from electronic and bibliographic searches where data were recent, sample sizes substantial, and bias limited. Results-The Australian dog bite death rate (0.004/100 000) is lower than both the United States (0.05-0.07/100 000) and Canadian rates (0.007/100 000). Victorian hospitalized trend rates were stable between 1987 and 1998, but there was a decline for children <5 years (p=0.019) corresponding with a reduction in dog ownership. Children 0-4 years have the highest rate of serious injury, particularly facial. Adults have longer hospitalizations, most frequently for upper extremity injury. Risk factors include: child, males, households with dogs, certain breeds, male dogs, home location, and leashed dog. Conclusions-Dog bite rates are high and it may therefore be assumed that current preventative interventions are inadequate. Responsible dog ownership, including separating young children from dogs, avoiding high risk dogs, neutering, regulatory enforcement, and standardized monitoring of bite rates are required. Controlled investigations of further risk and protective factors, and validated methods of breed identification, are needed. (Injury Prevention 2001;7:321-326)

The causes of unintentional ingestion of OTC medications by children might include lack of child-resistant closure (CRC), inadequate design of CRC, attitudes concerning the toxicity of OTC medications, or lack of vigilance by parents and carers in the storage and administration of OTC medications. Consideration should be given to restricting sales of toxic OTC medications to pharmacies, and increasing counselling of consumers concerning the toxicity and safe storage of OTC medications and the correct usage of CRC. The adequacy of CRC design and OTC medications warranting CRC should be reviewed by the relevant authorities.

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Objectives: To examine trends in rates of firearm related deaths in Victoria, Australia, over 22 years in the context of legislative reform and describe and investigate impact measures to explain trends. Design: Mortality data were extracted from vital statistics for 1979-2000. Data on firearm related deaths that were unintentional deaths, assaults, suicides, and of undetermined intent were analyzed. Rates were calculated with population data derived from estimates by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. A quasiexperimental design that used a Poisson regression model was adopted to compare relative rates of firearm related deaths for Victoria and the rest of Australia over three critical periods of legislative reform. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to assess changes in the types of firearm related deaths before and after 1998. Results: In Victoria, two periods of legislative reform related to firearms followed mass shooting events in 1988 and 1996. A national firearm amnesty and buyback scheme followed the latter. Victorian and Australian rates of firearm related deaths before reforms (1979-86) were steady. After initial Victorian reforms, a significant downward trend was seen for numbers of all firearm related deaths between 1988 and 1995 (17.3% in Victoria compared with the rest of Australia , p,0.0001). A further significant decline between 1997 and 2000 followed the later reforms. After the later all state legislation, similar strong declines occurred in the rest of Australia from 1997 (14.0% reduction compared with Victoria , p = 0.0372). Victorian reductions were observed in frequencies of firearm related suicides, assaults, and unintentional deaths before and after the 1988 reforms, but statistical significance was reached only for suicide. Conclusion: Dramatic reductions in overall firearm related deaths and particularly suicides by firearms were achieved in the context of the implementation of strong regulatory reform.

Objectives: To examine national trampoline injury patterns and trends in the context of improved product safety standards and trampoline design modifications. Method: Review of National Hospital Morbidity data. Results: There were an average 1,737 trampoline injuries reported nationally each year from 2002 to 2011. Both injury frequency and rate grew. Statistically significant rate increases were observed among all age groups, although both are highest among children aged 5–9 years. From 2008/09 there is a possible decreasing trend among the 5–9 age group. Falls predominate and 81% of falls result in fracture. Non‐fall injuries increased annually as a proportion of all hospitalised injury although they did not comprise more than 2.4% in any one year. Conclusions: History provides no evidence of an observable effect of voluntary Australian Standards for trampoline safety on population rates for trampoline injury. The major design modification – netted enclosures – could contribute to the risk of injury by leading parents to falsely believe that a netted enclosure eradicates the risk of injury.