For Clinicians
The Clinical Takeaway: Why Button Batteries are scary and sometimes deadly
A Healthed podcast in which Dr Ruth Barker, QISU Director and Emergency Department paediatrician discusses what to do and where to refer when a button battery ingestion is suspected.
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Call for button battery redesign after new study reveals horrific injuries and fatalities
A new study from the Australian Pediatric Surveillance Unit found 35 children have died globally from swallowing or inserting button batteries, including three in Australia.
The Australian government introduced mandatory safety and information standards in 2022, despite this there’s been 110
product recalls.
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Reported e-scooter injuries on the rise at Queensland emergency departments
The number of reported patients turning up to Queensland emergency departments after being injured in e-scooter mishaps has almost doubled within two years.
It comes amid ongoing work from the state government to introduce random breath testing for riders, as it also explores whether bigger e-scooters are safer to use than smaller devices.
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Button batteries facing calls for consumer boycott in Australia 🔋 | Features | ABC Australia
They’ve been referred to as landmines in the lounge room and “tiny killers” across households in Australia. Button batteries often hit the headlines in the worst of circumstances, when they prove deadly after a child swallows one.
The ACCC enforces the safety standard and already this year 20 products have been recalled for not complying.
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B-cycle — Australia’s official battery recycling scheme.
There’s a hidden danger lurking in every home. Meet the two mothers who’ve achieved a world first to protect our children.
The mothers of these little girls want you to know about a deadly “killer” inside your home. One tiny battery was all it took to kill their daughters.The hidden dangers of button batteries
Another child has tragically died after swallowing a button battery and many others are injured each week – so why are they so accessible?
The devastating news broke this week of another death caused by button battery ingestion.
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Grieving Gold Coast couple’s warning to other parents about lethal button batteries after death of 3yo Brittney
A three-year-old girl with “a thousand sparkles in her eyes” has become the third child to die in Australia since 2013 after swallowing a button battery.
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Safety concerns over button batteries in wristbands handed out at AFL grand final
Wristbands containing button batteries handed out at the AFL grand final on Saturday night in Brisbane have raised serious concerns for child safety, Kidsafe Queensland says.
Jesani Catchpoole found the wristband device on her kitchen bench the next morning, after her husband brought it home from the game.
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Other
Magnet Ingestion Survey Report: 2012
In Dec 2011, a Queensland toddler became the first child in Australia to die following ingestion of multiple small powerful magnets (SPMs).
In order to rapidly gather case data to inform possible regulatory action, in October 2012, the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) in collaboration with Drs Bhavesh Patel and Aoife Rice, Dept Surgery, Mater Children’s Hospital, conducted a brief email survey of Australian/ New Zealand paediatric surgeons.
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Statewide Plan for Improving Quad Bike Safety in Queensland 2016 – 2019
Serious incidents resulting from the use of quad bikes for work and recreational activities is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue for the Queensland community.
Over the past 15 years, 69 people have been killed in quad bike incidents in Queensland and many more injured. This is unacceptable and the emotional and financial costs to families and the community are immense.
The Queensland Government is committed to reducing incidents involving quad bikes and supports a coordinated whole-of-government approach to improving quad bike safety.
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Metro North Hospital and Health Service
Level 13, Block 7 Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital HERSTON QLD 4029
Phone: (07)3647 9526
Email: qisu@health.qld.gov.au