Use of routine health  data to complement monitoring of consumer product-related injuries

McKenzie, Kirsten; Barker, Ruth A; Scott, Deborah A; Strachan, Dave A

doi:10.5694/mja11.11095

Topics

To the Editor: Health data can have an important role in alerting product safety regulators to consumer product-related injuries. Such injuries are a significant public health concern, with an estimated 173 000 incidents occurring each year in Australia, many of which require medical treatment.1

1 National Centre for Health Information Research and Training, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD.
2 Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit, Mater Health Services, Brisbane, QLD.
3 Office of Fair Trading, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Brisbane, QLD.

Correspondence: k.mckenzie@qut.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

Our work was supported by a Queensland Injury Prevention Council grant, with in-kind industry partner support from the Queensland Office of Fair Trading Product Safety Unit.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Access Economics; Intelligent Outcomes Group. Baseline study of consumer product-related accidents. Report for the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs. Oct 2007. http://www. consumerlaw.gov.au/content/consumer_policy/downloads/Consumer_Product_Related_Accidents.pdf (accessed Oct 2011).
2. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Product safety: a guide for businesses and legal practitioners. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2010.
3. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. ACCC update: issue 27, November 2009. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/903212 (accessed Jan 2010).
4. McKenzie K, Scott D, Limbong J, Li E. Feasibility of using health data sources to inform product safety surveillance in Queensland: a report for the Queensland Injury Prevention Council. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology, 2011.

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