TORONTO, March 18, 2015 – Parachute, the national charitable organization dedicated to preventing injuries and saving lives, is partnering with Procter & Gamble Canada (P&G) to educate Canadians and help reduce the number of incidents as a result of access to laundry detergent products by children. The announcement was made during Poison Prevention Week, with the focus this year being on laundry detergent packets.

“Parachute’s partnership with P&G provides an important opportunity to educate families about how to keep their children safe from harm,” says Louise Logan, Parachute’s CEO and President. “We all play a role in keeping children safe, and we remind parents to ensure all household products are properly stored – secured and out of reach.”

Poison is the second leading cause of injury-related hospital admissions for those for those aged 0-4 years (688 admissions in 2010/11). A Canadian Paediatric Society study of injuries associated with liquid detergent packets treated by paediatricians gathered information on 54 children with injuries following exposure. The study found that more than half of these children (56%) were less than 2 years of age and another 43% were aged 2-4 years.

“P&G is dedicated to the safety of Canadians. We have taken a leadership role globally to establish common safety standards for all liquid laundry detergent pacs, and strive to help enable families to create safe home environments through safety education and tools. We are very excited to be collaborating with Parachute in our continued effort to reach more Canadians with important safety messages,” says Victoria Maybee, Communications Manager at P&G Canada.

Over the next year, with P&G’s support, Parachute will be developing print and digital resources which will be available on Parachute’s website. To ensure children are kept safe, Parachute reminds consumers to:

  • Keep laundry products secured and out of the reach of children and pets.
  • Leave detergent products in their original container with the original label intact, close the packaging after each use, and immediately put them away in a secure location after use.
  • Handle unit-dose detergent packets with dry hands.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves nearly five billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella® and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands .

About Parachute

Parachute is dedicated to preventing injuries and saving lives. A national charity, Parachute officially formed in July 2012, when the former Safe Communities Canada, Safe Kids Canada, SMARTRISK and ThinkFirst Canada joined together to become one leader in injury prevention. Parachute’s injury prevention solutions, knowledge mobilization, public policy, and social awareness efforts are designed to help keep Canadians safe. Parachute’s vision is an injury-free Canada with Canadians living long lives to the fullest. For information, visit us at parachutecanada.org, follow us on Twitter, and join us on Facebook.

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For information:

George James
Parachute
647-776-5125 (w)
416-402-3783 (c)
gjames@parachutecanada.org

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