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BfR app “Poisoning Accidents Among
Children”
In August 2013, the BfR released its first app entitled
“Poisoning Accidents Among Children”. This new product
aims to help reduce the number of poisoning accidents
among children. Within five months of launch, around
90,000 users installed the application on their smart-
phones. The BfR app received the German Award for
Online Communication in 2014.
Around 200,000 calls are received each year at poi-
son information centres in Germany, with half of
these cases involving children. Questions include
such things as: what to do if a child accidentally
drinks a corrosive detergent or a grill lighter fluid?
The new app cannot replace a phone call to a poi-
son information centre or the emergency service. It
does, however, provide valuable support to parents,
helping them to keep calm and make the correct deci-
sion in a difficult situation. The BfR app also provides
background information on the chemicals, medicines,
plants and fungi which can cause poisoning accidents.
In addition, the app contains tips for how to prevent ac-
cidents, as many incidents could be avoided if parents,
grandparents, childminders and carers were aware of
the risks and stored dangerous products safely.
The BfR app is easy to use. It has a clear, user-friendly
design and directs users intuitively to important informa-
tion such as first aid measures. Whether travelling, in the
playground or visiting the grandparents, all of the infor-
mation is available anytime, anywhere. Once installed
on the smartphone, the app can also be used without
Internet access. In an emergency, it is possible to call
one of the nine poison information centres in Germany di-
rectly from the app. This way, professional advice regard-
ing treatment can be obtained as quickly as possible.
When the smartphone's location function is activated, an
automatic connection to the relevant poison information
centre in the federal state is established.
i
The free app is available for smartphones with Android
and iOS operating systems from the relevant app stores
(in German).
www.bfr.bund.de > Presse > BfR-App
Jutta S.:
A must for
anyone who has
or works
with children.
SUPER!!!!
S
Ninasch O.:
Very practical.
At last a useful app
that I hope
we never need …
Max E.:
Highly
recommended.
Super app, thank
you Germany! This is
worth paying taxes
for.
Risk Communication
